Rivian CEO Announces Supervised Self-Driving Tech Release This Year

Rivian CEO RJ Scaringe announced on Thursday at the Masters of Scale conference in Anaheim that the company plans to release supervised self-driving technology later this year. Scaringe stated that this advanced driver-assistance system (ADAS) will enable Rivian's second-generation cars and the new R2 to perform point-to-point driving with human supervision.

He compared the upcoming technology to Tesla's Full Self-Driving (FSD) system, noting that it will offer similar supervised navigation capabilities. This release would mark a significant enhancement compared to Rivian's current Universal Hands-Free (UHF) system.

The existing UHF system provides steering and speed control on approximately 3.5 million miles of marked roads across the U.S. and Canada. However, it does not manage turns, traffic lights, or parking lots, functionalities expected from the new supervised system.

Scaringe also indicated that the company is on track to release unsupervised, hands-free, and eyes-off driving technology next year. This development aligns with Rivian's broader strategy to integrate autonomous driving into future vehicle lineups.

A key aspect of Rivian's long-term strategy involves developing autonomous driving for robotaxi fleets. The company previously announced a $1.25 billion agreement with Uber in March, which could see Uber acquire up to 50,000 R2 vehicles for its robotaxi operations.

According to Business Insider, the CEO did not specify any mileage limitations for the initial release of the self-driving technology.