Moderation Team
Rivian is making a big push into autonomous driving, with CEO RJ Scaringe laying out an ambitious roadmap that puts the company on a direct collision course with Tesla.
Later this year, Rivian plans to roll out full supervised point-to-point driving for all of its second-generation vehicles, including the upcoming R2 SUV. The feature would let drivers input a destination and have the vehicle handle the navigation under supervision, similar to how Tesla’s FSD works today.
Scaringe was pretty direct about the comparison. “Later this year, we’ll have full supervised point-to-point, which would be very similar like Tesla’s FSD,” he said. “And that’ll roll out to all of our Gen two vehicles, and of course, R2.”
From there, the roadmap gets more ambitious. “Next year, we allow it to go unsupervised so you can take your eyes off the road, which is really nice,” Scaringe added. By 2028, Rivian is targeting fully driverless capability, which Scaringe described as unlocking entirely new use cases. “That unlocks like airport drop-offs, or you can pick your kids up from school, or go to the grocery store and grab me this,” he said.
On the robotaxi side, Rivian has partnered with Uber rather than building its own ride-hailing network. “We took the decision to partner with Uber, so we could focus on the tech and leverage them for their access to a big distribution channel,” Scaringe said. The plan is to deploy 50,000 robotaxi versions of the R2 through Uber’s platform.
Early R2 Impressions Are Mixed
Early real-world testing of the R2 prototype is drawing a split reaction. Some have loved the R2, but Tesla enthusiast @wholemars spent time with the vehicle and came away impressed with the hardware but underwhelmed by the driver assistance software.
“Overall I found the Rivian R2 to be a delightful vehicle. One of the nicest EV options in the North American market,” he said, praising the compact SUV form factor, comfortable seats, haptic scroll wheels, and MagSafe wireless charging pad.
But the ADAS experience was a dealbreaker. “Unfortunately the ADAS and other shortcomings are a dealbreaker for us. And the heft of the vehicle makes it not as fun to drive as a Tesla,” he said. “Both my girlfriend and I agreed it couldn’t be a daily driver, but that we might consider it with FSD.”
He did leave the door open for Rivian though. “If you’ve wanted a Rivian type EV SUV but haven’t pulled the trigger because it’s out of your price range, the R2 may be for you.”
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