Rivian launched new technology at its first “Autonomy and AI Day” on Thursday in Palo Alto, California.
Credit: Rivian
Electric vehicle manufacturer Rivian Automobile has developed a custom chip, a car computer and new artificial intelligence models that will allow it to bring self-driving features to its upcoming vehicles, the company revealed at its first “Autonomy and AI Day” on Thursday in Palo Alto, California.
Rivian shares fell about 3% during the hour-long event and fell further as OpenAI made its own AI announcement on Thursday, revealing its most advanced model yet.
Rivian also announced plans to roll out an Autonomy+ subscription with “ever-expanding capabilities” to customers of its second-generation vehicles in early 2026, which will be powered by its Rivian Autonomy Processors and Autonomy Computers.
The Autonomy+ offering will be priced at $2,500 as a one-time initial purchase or is available for $49.99 per month to start. In comparison, the competitor Tesla offers its premium FSD (supervised) option for $8,000 up front or $99 per month.
“AI allows us to create technologies and customer experiences at a completely different pace than what we’ve seen in the past,” Rivian founder and CEO RJ Scaringe said during the hour-long event.
Company executives said in a statement that an upcoming software update will include “universal hands-free” functionality, allowing Rivian customers to “drive hands-free” on more than 3.5 million miles of roads in North America, covering the vast majority of marked roads in the United States.
RJ Scaringe, CEO of Rivian, at the company’s first “Autonomy and AI Day” on December 11, 2025, in Palo Alto, California.
Lora Kolodny | CNBC
Scaringe said the new advanced driver assistance system will continue to improve as more miles are driven, learning through a data steering wheel through reinforcement learning.
Unlike its main competitor, Tesla, Rivian has announced plans to use lidar, or light detection and ranging, and radar sensors in its upcoming “R2” cars to enable “Level 4,” or fully automated driving, as defined by SAE levels of driving automation.
A passenger can sleep in the back seat in a Level 4 autonomous car while it transports them to their destination under normal traffic and weather conditions. Waymo, the Alphabetin the United States, leader in robotaxis, considers its vehicles level 4.
Scaringe said Thursday that the company’s upcoming autonomous vehicles would allow the company to continue its robotaxis business, something Tesla has been promising for years but has yet to launch.
“Now, while we will initially focus on personal vehicles, which today account for the vast majority of miles traveled to the United States, this also allows us to pursue opportunities in the ride-sharing space,” Scaringe said at the event.
Rivian and Tesla shares since Rivian went public.
Rivian is not alone in aiming to deliver autonomous systems that meet Level 4 expectations, while rolling out partially automated features along the way for drivers who generally want these to reduce fatigue on long journeys or make them safer overall behind the wheel.
Tesla and General engines work on their own proprietary unmanned systems, while Honda, Lucid and Nissan have partnered with venture capital-funded autonomous vehicle technology startups (Helm.AI, Nuro and Wayve respectively) to develop similar systems with a range of different technical approaches.
Rivian’s autonomous driving aspirations will be powered by a new in-house chip developed by the company, scheduled to launch in 2026. Vidya Rajagopalan, Rivian’s vice president of electrical hardware, said the chip uses a package of “multi-chip modules” and has “high memory bandwidth,” which is “key for AI applications.” Rivian’s chip offers a bandwidth of 205 gigabytes per second.
“Rivian is in a unique position to move from a software-defined vehicle to an AI-defined vehicle,” said Wassym Bensaid, chief software officer of Rivian.
The automaker also announced a new AI-powered “Rivian Assistant,” a next-generation voice interface launching in early 2026 on its first and second generation vehicles.
Rivian is under pressure to prove its future growth potential to investors and expand its customer base amid slowing sales of battery-electric vehicles in the United States and international competition from Chinese electric vehicle makers.
The fully electric vehicle segment saw a decline in sales nationally after the Trump administration prematurely ended in September the $7,500 federal tax credit previously available to electric vehicle buyers in the United States.
Rivian shares are up about 25% this year, but remain down more than 80% since the company’s IPO in 2021, amid internal and external challenges.