- Rivian has announced plans to launch Universal Hands-Free Driving.
- It will soon enable hands free driving on 3.5 million miles of roads.
- The company also announced a new chip and an AI-powered assistant.
Rivian has hosted its first Autonomy & AI Day, which provides a glimpsed into the future. Notably, CEO RJ Scaringe said their ultimate goal is to deliver a Level 4 autonomous driving system, which means a human wouldn’t be needed in many scenarios.
In-House Chips
Rivian says one of the key enablers of advancements will be a switch to “in-house silicon” that has been “designed specifically for the vision-centric physical AI.” Their first chip is known as the Rivian Autonomy Processor (RAP1) and it integrates processing and memory onto a single multi-chip module.
The RAP1 powers the Autonomy Compute Module and it has the “processing power of 5 billion pixels per second.” It can also do “1600 sparse INT8 TOPS (Trillion Operations Per Second),” whatever that means.
Autonomous Driving
While talk about chips and data processing power is enough to make you snooze, Rivian announced LiDAR sensors will be introduced into future R2 vehicles. They’re designed to augment their multi-modal sensor strategy and provide “detailed, three-dimensional spatial data and redundant sensing.” The company also noted LiDAR will improve real-time detection and should help to keep drivers safe even in “edge cases.”
LiDAR sensors are expected to be available on R2 models starting in late 2026, although validation testing is still underway.
Universal Hands-Free Driving Coming Soon
Besides talking about the R2, Rivian revealed Universal Hands-Free driving is coming to R1 vehicles in the “near term.” This promises to allow hands-free driving in “significantly more places.”
In particular, the company said owners can expect to travel hands-free on more than 3.5 million miles (5,632,704 km) of roads in the United States and Canada. This includes non-highways with clearly painted lines.
Autonomy+
Rivian also mentioned a new subscription called Autonomy+. It’s slated to arrive in early 2026 and deliver “continuously expanding capabilities.” These “have the potential to make the roads safer, address customer demand, and become veritable drivers for the business.”
The subscription will cost $49.99 per month or $2,500 as part of a one-time purchase. While the company didn’t say much about it, they confirmed the plan will include Universal Hands-Free as well as Lane Change on Command.
They’ll eventually be followed by Auto Parking and On-Ramp to Off-Ramp. The latter will enable vehicles to merge onto highways and exit them.
Rivian added they’ll “continuously improve the autonomy capabilities of its Gen 2 R1 and future R2 vehicles.” Eventually, they want to offer a Level 4 system that provides eyes off, point-to-point navigation. In effect, you’d be a passenger in your own vehicle.
AI Is Coming
Besides autonomous driving technology, Rivian revealed their next-generation AI voice assistant will arrive early next year. Known as Rivian Assistant, it promises to “understand your vehicle, your digital life, and the world around you.”
Rivian Assistant will debut in first- and second-generation R1 vehicles. Users can expect to have natural language conversations with the assistant and it will be capable of interacting with third-party apps. The first integration will be with Google Calendar, but others will undoubtedly follow.
