Rivian goes all-in on self-driving with new Autonomy Platform
One of the defining trends in the auto business this year was how the race to win the electric vehicle market began to shift toward a growing focus on autonomous driving, led by EV forerunner Tesla's (TSLA) push to overtake Google's (GOOG) Waymo as the leader of the nascent robotaxi space in the United States.
Perhaps sensing where the market is heading, EV startup Rivian Automotive (RIVN) on Thursday unveiled what it calls its "software-first approach to autonomy" that includes its first custom computer chip for self-driving.
The automaker announced its new tech innovations at its first Autonomy & AI Day, held at its headquarters in Palo Alto, California. In addition to the computer chip, Rivian also introduced a new paid driver-assistance package called Autonomy+, which will be sold for a one-time fee of $2,500 or a monthly fee of $49.99.
Autonomy+ will be available to Rivian drivers in early 2026.
Rivian said that the core of its technology roadmap is the new computer chip, called the Rivian Autonomy Processor (RAP1), which represents the company's transition toward developing its own in-house silicon. The custom 5nm processor integrates processing and memory onto a single multi-chip module.
The RAP1 will power Rivian's third-generation autonomy computer called the Autonomy Compute Module 3 (ACM3), which it says has the processing power of 5 billion pixels per second.
Along with ACM3, Rivian is planning to integrate LiDAR into future R2 models, and will provide three-dimensional data and redundant sensing, while also improving real-time detection for edge cases during autonomous driving.
The company said that both ACM3 and LiDAR are currently undergoing validation and are expected to be available to ship on R2 models in late 2026.
Rivian noted that its autonomous technology is being power by its Rivian Autonomy Platform. The company also introduced its Large Driving Model (LDM), which it said is a foundational autonomous model that is trained like a Large Language Model (LLM), utilizing Group-Relative Policy Optimization (GRPO)
Rivian said that its LDM "will distill superior driving strategies from massive datasets into the vehicle."
The company indicated that its long-term goal is to achieve Level 4 autonomy, which is when a vehicle can operate without human input in certain conditions.
Rivian Founder and CEO RJ Scaringe said in a statement that the company's technology upgrades represents "an inflection point for the ownership experience" and that the new autonomous features in its R2 vehicles will "give customers their time back when in the car."
“I couldn’t be more excited for the work our teams are driving in autonomy and AI," Scaringe said "Our updated hardware platform, which includes our in-house 1600 sparse TOPS inference chip, will enable us to achieve dramatic progress in self-driving to ultimately deliver on our goal of delivering L4."
Investors seemed unimpressed with the autonomous rollout as Rivian's stock fell 6.1% on Thursday.
Rivian said that the company also plans to make software enhancements to its second generation RI models, including universal hands-free technology that will allow for hands-free driving over an extended period of time.