Rivian Goes Big On Autonomy, With Custom Silicon, Lidar, and a Hint At Robotaxis

During the company's first 'Autonomy & AI Day' event today, Rivian unveiled a major autonomy push featuring custom silicon, lidar, and a 'large driving model.' It also hinted at a potential entry into the self-driving ride-hail market, according to CEO RJ Scaringe. TechCrunch reports: Rivian said it will expand the hands-free version of its driver-assistance software to 'over 3.5 million miles of roads across the USA and Canada' and will eventually expand beyond highways to surface streets (with clearly painted road lines). This expanded access will be available on the company's second-generation R1 trucks and SUVs. It's calling the expanded capabilities 'Universal Hands-Free' and will launch in early 2026. Rivian says it will charge a one-time fee of $2,500 or $49.99 per month.

'What that means is you can get into the vehicle at your house, plug in the address to where you're going, and the vehicle will completely drive you there,' Scaringe said Thursday, describing a point-to-point navigation feature. After that, Rivian plans to allow drivers to take their eyes off the road. 'This gives you your time back. You can be on your phone, or reading a book, no longer needing to be actively involved in the operation of vehicle.' Rivian's driver assistance software won't stop there; the EV maker laid out plans on Thursday to enhance its capabilities all the way up to what it's calling 'personal L4,' a nod to the level set by the Society of Automotive Engineers that means a car can operate in a particular area with no human intervention.

After that, Scaringe hinted that Rivian will be looking at competing with the likes of Waymo. 'While our initial focus will be on personally owned vehicles, which today represent a vast majority of the miles driven in the United States, this also enables us to pursue opportunities in the ride-share space,' he said. To help accomplish these lofty goals, Rivian has been building a 'large driving model' (think: an LLM but for real-world driving), part of a move away from a rules-based framework for developing autonomous vehicles that has been led by Tesla. The company also showed off its own custom 5nm processor, which it says will be built in collaboration with both Arm and TSMC.

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