Fewer ECUs in Future R1 vehicles?

[WorldComposting]

From the Q2 information I saw this

- Rivian designed own ECUs, away from Tier 1 ECUs that other OEMs use. This enables Rivian to own software stack and push updates more readily, and not be confined by Tier 1 ECU functions.

- Next year, 60% reduction of ECUs in R1s next year. 25% reduction in wiring harness. $thousands cost savings per vehicle. Forms basis of R2.

Anyone else find this interesting?
Rivian created the ECU in all Rivian vehicles so they own the specs which is good. New vehicles will have less ECUs which could save quite a bit per vehicle.

Will that mean newer vehicles might not have the processing power of the first run of vehicles? Will some functionality not be able to be built out because of this?

Just curious what the thoughts are on this.

Sponsored

 

[jebinc]

Sandy “Cheapening” Munro, doing his best work….

 

[mikehmb]

From the Q2 information I saw this

Anyone else find this interesting?
Rivian created the ECU in all Rivian vehicles so they own the specs which is good. New vehicles will have less ECUs which could save quite a bit per vehicle.

Will that mean newer vehicles might not have the processing power of the first run of vehicles? Will some functionality not be able to be built out because of this?

Just curious what the thoughts are on this.

Vertical integration can be a very good thing. I’m all for it, as an owner. Tesla moved to their own ECU and ADAS years ago. And they’re clearly best-in-class SW stack.

It also means 1st gen R1 vehicles will eventually top-out on what capabilities they can support.

It can be enormously beneficial, assuming Rivian gets it right.

 

[Oldsmobile_Mike]

If wishes were fishes, I'd like to see things like the processor modules be swapable, so we can upgrade to newer hardware as it's released. Same for the comms module, to get a 5G upgrade.

 

[WorldComposting]

Vertical integration can be a very good thing. I’m all for it, as an owner. Tesla moved to their own ECU and ADAS years ago. And they’re clearly best-in-class SW stack.

It also means 1st gen R1 vehicles will eventually top-out on what capabilities they can support.

It can be enormously beneficial, assuming Rivian gets it right.

I read this as they are currently using the ECU they designed in the R1 vehicles but are removing some of them as they are redundant in some way.

If you are right and the current R1 vehicles have off the shelf ECU I do wonder if we will be cut off from updates at some point and if so when?

 

[dleepnw]

its possible some processing power could be lost. even if thats the case, if its a compromise to reduce cost/complexity and improve efficiency and vampire drain, then i think thats worth it.

overall i see this as a positive.

Sponsored