Rivian Autonomy & AI Day! Lidar, Hands-Free Driving, Rivian Assistant & more announced

[mkhuffman]

What I gathered is my R2 reservation is more exciting than when I woke up but more importantly is that Alexa in my 23 T will be replaced with something with actual functionality. I can handle driving my 835hp toy myself like no Ai would dare.

Until Rivian releases Mad Max Mode.

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[TexasBob]

Still bad news. They basically knee-capped their R2 sales until the next gen is out.

I missed this while focusing on the tech details. Yeah, this is a recipe for Rivian bankruptcy. They pulled an Osborne big time.

 

[pricedm]

I missed this while focusing on the tech details. Yeah, this is a recipe for Rivian bankruptcy. They pulled an Osborne big time.

Unfortunately 8% stock price during the presentation seems to support your thesis. Hope you are wrong...

 

[Sgt Beavis]

Easy to say until you're dog tired heading home from an adventure, or not feeling well, or sleepy, and your robot on wheels takes you door-to-door without you giving 2FKs about anything. Welcome to the future...now.

I get you, just haven't had that issue.
That said, I do think I'll care A LOT more about autonomy as I get older. I've said before that autonomous vehicles will allow the elderly to maintain their independence much longer. Not everyone can drive a car at 98yo like my Grandma could.

 

[BigSkies]

As much as I try, I just can't make myself care about autonomous driving.

I've used Autopilot on my wife's Tesla, and used FSD during their occasional free trials. It's fine, but nothing I'd pay a subscription fee for.

Adoption is going to need to be pretty high for this to pencil out as a business decision.

 

[pricedm]

I get you, just haven't had that issue.
That said, I do think I'll care A LOT more about autonomy as I get older. I've said before that autonomous vehicles will allow the elderly to maintain their independence much longer. Not everyone can drive a car at 98yo like my Grandma could.

Exactly! Physical independence for our parents, and eventually us, will be aided by autonomous vehicles.

 

[Revelation]

Easy to say until you're dog tired heading home from an adventure, or not feeling well, or sleepy, and your robot on wheels takes you door-to-door without you giving 2FKs about anything. Welcome to the future...now.

Or if you have a drink too many and you let your car drive you home instead of taking your chances with Road Pirates.

 

[KootenayEV]

If the Gen3 R2 actually plays out to personal L4, I'll happily replace my 2018 Model 3 and retire my R1 from daily commuter to weekend adventure and towing duties. Getting 2 hours of my day back would be fantastic! Most of my computer hobbies/entertainment stuff I do in the evening could be done on my commute, keeping my non-work/commute time available for physical activities and human-human interactions. I would absolutely pay for this. Fingers crossed Rivian gets there!

 

[mkhuffman]

I missed this while focusing on the tech details. Yeah, this is a recipe for Rivian bankruptcy. They pulled an Osborne big time.

Maybe not?

What if they plan to ramp up slowly, get the production bugs out, holding off on a big promotion until Gen3? They might even allow you to order a Gen3 and just wait for it.

Production ramp that has lots of problems could kill the company. If they can have a "soft launch", made possible by lower demand for the Gen2 truck, it might turn out to be the best way to go.

They also have some work to do in the service area, and a slow ramp will give them more time to expand their service capabilities.

So they keep the launch on time, for perception purposes, but under produce until Gen3.

 

[DuoRivians]

Wonder why Rivian can’t offer to retrofit R2’s with lidar at minimal or no cost

 

[Dark-Fx]

Nowhere in that does it say R2 is launching 1st half of 2026 (Autonomy plus is though). Still bad news either way. They basically knee-capped their R2 sales until the next gen is out, or it's delayed. Neither is good for stockholders.

Rivian is just going to have to sell R2 to customers that don't value that autonomy, like myself. Until it can drive itself with no-one in the car, it has limited value to me.

 

[Revelation]

Wonder why Rivian can’t offer to retrofit R2’s with lidar at minimal or no cost

The same reason they wouldn't do the same for Gen1's.

 

[Davethadog]

I guess I had some amount of hope that Rivian would focus its efforts on making excellent driving vehicles, not trying to compete with Tesla with a different form factor. I am so uninterested in whatever an “ai defined vehicle” is.

 

[waitingonanr1s]

Maybe not?

What if they plan to ramp up slowly, get the production bugs out, holding off on a big promotion until Gen3? They might even allow you to order a Gen3 and just wait for it.

Production ramp that has lots of problems could kill the company. If they can have a "soft launch", made possible by lower demand for the Gen2 truck, it might turn out to be the best way to go.

They also have some work to do in the service area, and a slow ramp will give them more time to expand their service capabilities.

So they keep the launch on time, for perception purposes, but under produce until Gen3.

Agree with that piece - I'm all for them taking their time. But it's a let down for investors who have been sold a first half of 2026 launch for years now. Hopefully the cash supply holds out for that.

 

[mkhuffman]

Agree with that piece - I'm all for them taking their time. But it's a let down for investors who have been sold a first half of 2026 launch for years now. Hopefully the cash supply holds out for that.

The 2025 Q4 investor meeting is going to be very, very interesting. I think that is when they will reveal how they plan to mitigate the Gen3 delay from a financial perspective.

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