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Rivian Goes Big On Autonomy, With Custom Silicon, Lidar, and a Hint At Robotaxis (techcrunch.com) 28

Posted by BeauHD from the what-to-expect dept.
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.

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

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

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  • I'm wondering if their new model performs better than the experimental aftermarket upgrade:

    https://www.rivianforums.com/f... [rivianforums.com]

    https://comma.ai/ [comma.ai]

  • Rivian doesn't have an approved permit for an autonomous vehicle testing in it's home State of California:
    https://www.dmv.ca.gov/portal/... [ca.gov]
    Till it gets a permit, this is just CEO blablabla effort to pump stock prices.

  • There are too many companies vying for the auto-drive business already. It's a long learning curve with the potential for glorious PR disasters. Ya don't want to go there.

    Maybe Rivian are afraid China is commoditizing EV's such that they have to find a value-added niche or die.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by cusco ( 717999 )

      China has several thousand robotaxis in service right now, the US is well behind the curve already.

    • A big corporation can't push into new areas? Remember that Rivian has a software development agreement with VW, which may also be looking to expand into offering a self drive option. Actually there is no 'may,' of course they are.

      Everyone with the resources is 'going there'. You want them to fall behind?

      Why does everything have to do with China? This is not it.

  • and the EULA will make the owner the one facing hard time or fines + lawsuit when something goes wrong.

    Also you will have no rights to logs or source code in court.

  • can you be DUI in an L4 car?

  • Rivian is another one of those permanently losing money companies. I'm extremely skeptical that they will be able to survive long enough to implement everything they planned. Their total # of vehicles sold are actually expected to decline in 2025. While they do have some backing from VW and Amazon who might want to pour money into the fire, the time to create their own silicon, get out new vehicles with the new silicon, then test those vehicles is easily a 5 year process.

    • Re: (Score:3)

      by kwerle ( 39371 )

      Their total # of vehicles sold are actually expected to decline in 2025.

      I guess you mean their annual car sales?

      Specifically:
      Overall Guidance: Rivian adjusted its 2025 delivery target down to 41,500 - 43,500 vehicles due to retooling for the next-gen R2 platform, impacting production.
      (vs about 51K in 2024)

      I guess I'd call that a blip if the numbers play out and they get R2 up and running - which I'm looking forward to.

      • The retooling argument doesn't work as well as it did with Tesla. Tesla was perpetually sold out of existing vehicles while they upgraded for their newer models. Rivian on the other hand has inventory available and is still seeing a decline in sales.
  • Where companies will do anything to avoid having to pay taxes for good public transit (trains! joyful trains!).
  • Another EV company who has a product which is already too fucking expensive is gonna add a bunch of shit nobody wants

  • Seems like all the car companies should pool resources into an Android style model instead of each trying to make their own sub-par AI thatâ(TM)s duplicating a lot of the work and operating with less data than if everyone shared data and resources. Companies can differentiate the same way Android phone vendors do .. on car features. Interior look -and feel. Motor torque, mileage, suspension, exterior look etc.

    • That's a good point, but I think these guys are all still in a startup valuation inflation state of mind where [claiming they are] rolling their own boosts the stock price more than saying they're doing something that might actually work. Everyone wants IP worth the moon, not to build something good that makes profit from sales margins.

  • So much for Michigan.

  • However they are very far behind companies like Waymo.

  • If you're a little old lady going to the airport, who loads your luggage into the trunk of a robotaxi?

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