Rivian Automotive (NASDAQ:RIVN) executives said the company is focused on ramping production of its R2 midsize SUV while advancing its in-house autonomy platform toward an initial point-to-point driving rollout late this year.
Speaking at an Evercore ISI event, Chip Newcom, Rivian’s vice president of investor relations, said investor attention is centered on the R2 production ramp, supply-chain execution and the company’s autonomy roadmap. He said the third quarter would be the first full quarter of R2 production and that Rivian is working through targets previously outlined on its second-quarter earnings call.
Point-to-Point Rollout Planned for Late This Year
Philbin said the first point-to-point release will support R1 Gen 2 and R2 Phase II and Phase III fleets, rather than requiring Gen 3 hardware.
Rivian brought its full autonomy stack in-house about three years ago, according to Philbin. The company replaced the Mobileye system used in its Gen 1 vehicles with its own system in Gen 2 vehicles, enabling it to gather fleet data and develop its own perception models. Rivian has since introduced Highway Assist and Universal Hands-Free, and is now concentrating on point-to-point capabilities.
Philbin said Rivian favors a multimodal sensing strategy combining cameras, radar and lidar. While cameras may potentially reach human-level perception, he said Rivian believes the safety standard for broad autonomous deployment will need to surpass human performance. Adding radar and lidar improves performance and helps accelerate development, he said.
To address difficult edge cases, Rivian uses a system of roughly 3,000 long-tail queries that search fleet data for unusual driving situations. The company can deploy new data triggers dynamically to vehicles, with certain critical events uploaded over LTE and less urgent data generally transmitted through Wi-Fi.
“There’s no real replacement for real-world data,” Philbin said, adding that simulation can augment development but may not capture combinations of unusual events encountered on public roads.
Robotaxi and Personal Level 4 Ambitions
Rivian’s autonomy program also supports its Uber robotaxi partnership. Philbin said Rivian is building a single autonomy stack intended to operate broadly, although it may use city-specific fine-tuning data. The company has begun collecting data through expert fleet deployments in San Francisco, Chicago and Miami.
Newcom said Rivian expects to unlock the second $250 million funding milestone under its Uber arrangement during the fourth quarter, though the company did not disclose the specific technical requirements tied to individual funding triggers. He said the milestones are tied to progress toward an Level 4-capable robotaxi and eventual expansion of the service to 25 markets, including at least one European market, by 2031.
Rivian has said its target is to make the service available by late 2028. Uber or its fleet partners would purchase the vehicles, while Rivian would recognize the vehicle sale and receive a software licensing fee tied to vehicle utilization, Newcom said.
Philbin said Rivian expects a robotaxi offering to precede personal Level 4 autonomy because the robotaxi service will operate with more constraints. However, he described personal Level 4 capability as the company’s “North Star,” saying the underlying work for both programs would be substantially similar.
He also identified three principal obstacles to eyes-off driving: improving model performance in rare scenarios, validating model performance through cloud-based testing rather than road testing every release, and navigating a fragmented U.S. regulatory environment. Some states have pathways for deployment, while others treat eyes-off systems similarly to Level 4 autonomy or offer no current pathway, he said.
R2 Supply Chain and Cost Focus
Newcom said Rivian is taking a “crawl, walk, run” approach to the R2 production ramp, progressing through validation builds and initial shift operations before adding a second shift in the fourth quarter. The company’s long-term target is to reach 4,000 R2 units per week at its Normal, Illinois, plant, though Newcom said the ramp will take time.
Supply-chain maturity remains the main production constraint, he said. Rather than pointing to a single persistent bottleneck, Newcom said the particular supplier requiring attention can change from week to week across Tier 1, Tier 2 and Tier 3 suppliers.
Rivian expects the R2 bill of materials to be about half that of the R1, while non-bill-of-material costs are expected to decline even more. Newcom cited the R2’s shift from a fully active air suspension to a semi-active MacPherson strut setup, which he said reduces suspension cost by 70%.
- Rivian’s Normal plant has an annualized capacity of 215,000 vehicles.
- About 155,000 to 160,000 units of that capacity are expected to be allocated to the R2.
- Rivian’s planned Georgia facility is expected to eventually provide 300,000 units of annual capacity.
- The Georgia plant is planned to support R2-related variants, the R3 and Uber robotaxi vehicles.
Newcom said Rivian expects its scale to improve purchasing leverage with suppliers. He also noted that rising commodity and DRAM costs can offset benefits elsewhere in the supply chain. Rivian hedges lithium prices, he said.
Autonomy+ and Future Technology Partnerships
Newcom said take rates for Rivian’s Autonomy+ offering on R1 vehicles have exceeded internal expectations, although the company has not disclosed detailed attach-rate figures or the mix between upfront and subscription purchases. Autonomy+ is priced at $2,500 upfront or $50 monthly, and currently represents a relatively small portion of software revenue because of the size of Rivian’s vehicle base and the pricing structure.
R2 Launch Edition buyers receive Autonomy+ as part of their purchase, Newcom said. Rivian plans to begin rolling out its third-generation autonomy computer and lidar-equipped RAP1 system to employees later this year before expanding to customers next year.
On partnerships, Newcom said Rivian’s immediate priority is executing with Volkswagen. Volkswagen has said it expects to introduce its first vehicle using the companies’ joint zonal electrical architecture and software next year with the ID.1, he said. Rivian’s autonomy technology is separate from that joint venture, Philbin said, though the company remains open to eventually working with other automakers on autonomy.
About Rivian Automotive (NASDAQ:RIVN)
Rivian Automotive, Inc is an electric vehicle manufacturer focused on developing and producing vehicles designed for adventure, utility and commercial use. The company’s lineup includes the R1T electric pickup truck and R1S electric SUV, which feature all-electric powertrains, advanced driver-assistance technology and software-enabled vehicle systems.
Rivian also develops electric commercial vehicles, including delivery vans, along with vehicle software, charging solutions and related services.
