Rivian owners may notice something unusual haunting their dashboards this October. The electric-vehicle maker has teamed up with Sony Pictures to transform its R1T pickups, R1S SUVs and newer R2 SUVs into Ghostbusters-themed machines through an over-the-air Halloween software update.
Beginning October 9, vehicles can gain Ghostbusters-inspired displays, lighting, sound effects, games and hidden characters without visiting a service centre or installing physical accessories. Rivian has even recreated the franchise’s famous Ecto-1 as a specially modified Ecto-R1 and recruited Bill Murray to help introduce the campaign. It is playful software, but beneath the ghosts and proton packs is a serious demonstration of how much a modern connected vehicle can change after leaving the factory.
The Ghostbusters Takeover Arrives Through an Over-the-Air Update
Rivian’s Halloween Mode goes live October 9 and remains available through November 2, 2026. The company says the experience is available across the R1T, R1S and R2, giving owners of both its established adventure vehicles and its newer smaller SUV access to the seasonal software. R1 vehicles need software version 2026.36.0, while R2 uses version 2026.36.40. The Rivian mobile app must also be current.
Once everything is updated, the driver display presents a prompt directing the owner into the dedicated Ghostbusters experience. There is no physical modification required, which is part of what makes the transformation unusual. An electric truck used for an ordinary commute in the morning can become a Ghostbusters-themed driveway attraction that evening simply through software. The experience is also optional. Owners who have no interest in turning their vehicle into a supernatural response unit can continue using the normal interface. The transformation is temporary as well, disappearing after the Halloween period rather than permanently changing the vehicle.
A Dedicated Ghostbusters App Controls the Experience
Instead of scattering this year’s Halloween additions across different vehicle menus, Rivian has created a dedicated in-vehicle Ghostbusters app. When the vehicle is parked, opening it changes the driver display and provides access to the broader collection of seasonal effects. Rivian designed the main control around an appropriately dramatic red switch that synchronizes visual, lighting and audio elements when activated.
The experience changes when the vehicle begins moving. Rivian keeps certain themed visual cues active while reserving the more distracting features for Park, an important distinction for something designed to attract attention. A driver could therefore leave a Halloween gathering with some of the Ghostbusters visual treatment still present without having the complete parked entertainment experience competing for attention. That separation also illustrates how deeply the feature is integrated. It is not simply a video playing on the centre screen. Rivian is coordinating multiple vehicle systems—including displays, cabin lighting, speakers and exterior lighting—through one software interface, allowing the same physical vehicle hardware to take on a noticeably different personality for a few weeks.
Trick or Treat Mode Turns the Vehicle Into a Driveway Attraction
Trick or Treat Mode is likely to be one of the most noticeable features for families using a Rivian on Halloween night. When activated, displays change to Ghostbusters graphics, themed music begins playing and the exterior lights and sound system join the performance. Rivian says the vehicle can greet approaching trick-or-treaters with Ghostbusters effects, while a separate Motion Mode can cause selected light and sound sequences to activate when somebody passes the vehicle.
Owners do not necessarily need to remain in the driver’s seat to control the spectacle. Rivian provides access to features including Trick or Treat Mode, music, exterior effects and sounds through its mobile app, while the company’s Halloween page also lists Apple Watch control for the trick-or-treat function. Imagine an R1S parked at the end of a decorated driveway while its owner hands out candy from the porch: the vehicle can become part of the decoration without someone repeatedly climbing into the cabin. That kind of interaction turns what would normally be transportation into a temporary piece of the Halloween display.
Six Sound-and-Light Choices Go Well Beyond a Simple Horn Change
Owners can select from six settings for the principal light-and-sound experience: Ecto-1, Proton Pack, Slimer, Ghost Trap, Peter Venkman and a Random setting. Each combines its own soundscape with exterior LED sequences, allowing the same vehicle to produce different effects throughout the evening. Rivian also provides separate custom locking sounds, although the available choices depend on the vehicle generation.
First-generation R1 vehicles can replace their normal locking sound with an Ecto-1 effect. Gen 2 R1 models and the R2 have three choices: Ecto-1, Proton Pack and Chant. Hardware differences between generations have shaped previous Rivian Halloween updates as well. During the 2025 Spooky Swamp event, for example, Gen 2 R1 vehicles could use four exterior light-and-sound effects, while Gen 1 vehicles received a more limited exterior lighting selection. The differences are a reminder that software can unlock considerable creativity, but it cannot make every generation of physical hardware identical. Rivian can distribute one seasonal idea across its fleet while tailoring individual effects to what each vehicle is technically capable of displaying or playing.
There Are Ghosts Hidden Throughout the Normal Vehicle Interface
Rivian has turned part of the update into a scavenger hunt rather than making every feature immediately visible. Interactive clues send occupants searching through familiar parts of the vehicle software, including Drive Modes, Gear Guard settings, side-camera screens and the Energy app. Discovering characters such as Slimer or the Ghost Guard triggers special animations and sound effects. That makes the existing interface itself part of the game rather than simply placing a new entertainment menu beside it.
There is another game for owners who prefer something more direct. While the vehicle is parked, the centre display can run ‘Mallow Mash, an arcade-style challenge in which players try to catch or pop Mini-Puft marshmallow characters against the clock. Rivian Assistant participates as well, adopting an eerie seasonal voice and responding to requests to provide scavenger-hunt clues, activate exterior shows or play particular effects. Rivian’s AI-powered assistant began reaching R1 vehicles earlier in 2026 and arrived on R2 with its 2026.36 software generation. Halloween therefore gives a relatively new everyday technology a deliberately unserious job for a few weeks.
Rivian Built a Real Ecto-R1 to Bring the Software Into the Physical World
The Halloween campaign is not confined to pixels. Rivian’s Special Projects team created physical Ecto-R1 vehicles inspired by the famous Ecto-1 from the 1984 Ghostbusters film. The builds use an R1S as their foundation and add visual details intended to make the modern electric SUV immediately recognizable as part of the Ghostbusters universe. The transformation includes 22-inch Aero wheels with white covers and brighter silver finishes, a sweeping red body graphic and the franchise’s No-Ghost emblem on the hood and doors.
The roof is where the project becomes especially elaborate. Rivian added sirens, spotlights, a radar dish and side tanks inspired by equipment mounted to the movie vehicle. Vintage emergency lights were sourced and restored, while Rivian says the custom rack structure and accessory housings were fabricated internally. It is a distinctly modern interpretation of a vehicle whose famous predecessor was based on a 1959 Cadillac professional car. Rivian did not attempt to reproduce the enormous classic Cadillac literally. Instead, it translated the recognizable white-and-red design language and roof-mounted equipment onto the proportions of an electric R1S.
Bill Murray Helps Connect the New EV to the Original Ghostbusters
Rivian could have launched the feature with a conventional demonstration video, but the company instead brought in one of the people most closely associated with Ghostbusters. Bill Murray, who played Peter Venkman in the original films, appears in Rivian’s new Halloween campaign. The commercial places Murray back in a supernatural situation involving Slimer before the Ecto-R1 arrives, linking the software-driven electric vehicle with the franchise’s cinematic history.
The collaboration goes beyond a celebrity cameo. Rivian partnered with Sony Pictures, while filmmaker Gil Kenan worked on the campaign. Kenan co-wrote Ghostbusters: Afterlife and directed and co-wrote Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire, giving the promotional project a direct creative connection to the newer films. Production company Bob Industries was also involved. For Rivian, that level of participation helps the Halloween feature feel more like an officially licensed Ghostbusters experience than a collection of loosely inspired graphics. Even the available software sound packages use recognizable names such as Proton Pack, Ghost Trap, Slimer and Peter Venkman. The result is effectively a short-lived entertainment collaboration delivered directly into customer vehicles.
Halloween Software Has Become an Annual Rivian Tradition
Ghostbusters is not Rivian’s first attempt at dressing up its vehicles through software. In 2024, the company introduced its first formal “Car Costumes,” drawing on Knight Rider and Back to the Future alongside a generic Haunted Rivian theme. A second-generation R1 could imitate K.I.T.T.’s red scanner effect or activate a Back to the Future-inspired light-and-sound sequence. The 2024 features arrived October 18 and remained available until November 4.
Rivian changed direction in 2025 with Spooky Swamp, an internally developed bayou-themed experience available from October 21 through November 1. That update included special scenery, music, sound effects, exterior animations and a croaking frog lock sound. Ghostbusters therefore represents the third consecutive year in which Rivian has treated Halloween software as more than a small dashboard Easter egg. It also marks a return to a major pop-culture partnership after 2025’s original theme. Owners who have kept the same R1 for several years have effectively watched their vehicle wear completely different digital Halloween costumes without changing the underlying truck or SUV.
R2 Makes This Halloween Update Reach a Broader Rivian Lineup
The 2026 celebration is particularly notable because R2 owners can participate. Rivian began customer deliveries of the R2 in June, meaning this is the model’s first Halloween in customers’ hands. Previous Halloween experiences were developed around the R1T and R1S. With R2 now included, the seasonal software stretches across a larger range of vehicle sizes and price points than it did during the company’s earlier years.
That wider compatibility follows an important software change made shortly before Halloween. In September, Rivian moved the R1 family onto RivianOS 2, bringing R1 and R2 onto a common software platform. Rivian says the shared architecture allows improvements to be distributed across the lineup while still accounting for hardware differences. The platform also uses Unreal Engine 5 for real-time three-dimensional vehicle graphics. Ghostbusters may be one of the least serious applications of that technology, but it provides a remarkably visible demonstration of it. A unified platform means software teams can create one broad experience and deploy it across older R1s, newer R1 hardware and the recently launched R2 rather than treating every model as an isolated digital product.
The Ghostbusters Update Shows What “Software-Defined” Can Mean Beyond Performance
Most discussion of automotive software focuses on serious functions: navigation, charging, driver assistance, efficiency, climate control or vehicle diagnostics. Rivian’s Halloween feature highlights another possibility—the ability to change the emotional character of a vehicle after it has been sold. Chief Software Officer Wassym Bensaid has described Rivian’s control of its displays, lights and speakers as the foundation that makes an integrated experience like Ghostbusters possible.
That does not make a ghost-hunting mini-game as important as a range improvement or safety-related update. Its value lies somewhere different. Cars traditionally leave the factory with most of their personality fixed in place. Rivian is demonstrating that a connected vehicle can acquire temporary experiences, seasonal designs and entertainment features years into ownership. This year’s campaign extends even beyond the vehicles, with Ecto-R1 displays and Halloween events planned at Rivian locations including Austin, Venice, Miami, San Francisco and New York. The Ghostbusters software disappears November 2, but the underlying capability remains—and Rivian has already established a pattern suggesting another digital costume will arrive next Halloween.
