Rivian Unveils Universal Hands-Free Driving and New AI Assistant at Inaugural Event EV manufacturer Rivian held its first Autonomy and AI day, showcasing a major push into hands-free driving technology. The company announced an upcoming software update that will introduce what it calls universal hands-free driving. This system is designed to allow Rivian vehicles to autonomously navigate over 3.5 million miles of roads across North America, which the company states covers the vast majority of marked roads in the United States. This advanced driver-assistance feature is slated for both the forthcoming, more affordable R2 line of electric vehicles and the current generation of R1 vehicles, including the recently updated R1S SUV. However, access to the full self-driving capability will require a subscription to a new service named Autonomy+. This subscription will not only enable the hands-free driving on supported roads but will also grant customers access to future, yet-to-be-announced autonomous features. Rivian is offering two payment options for Autonomy+: a one-time fee of $2,500 for lifetime access or a monthly subscription of $50. To enable these advanced features, the upcoming R2 vehicle will be equipped with new hardware. This includes LiDAR sensors, which are crucial for precise environmental mapping, and a custom-designed Rivian Autonomy Processor. This new chip is built for multimodal applications and powers Rivian’s proprietary neural network engine. Both the LiDAR and the new processor are expected to be included in R2 models starting at the end of 2026. The event also highlighted Rivian’s advancements in in-vehicle artificial intelligence. The company is rolling out the Rivian Assistant, an AI-powered voice assistant powered by large language models. This assistant will be able to connect to external applications like Google Calendar to provide contextual help and will be model-agnostic, meaning it can select the best AI model for any given task from user queries. This feature is designed to be available across multiple Rivian vehicle models. Beyond the autonomy announcements, Rivian provided updates on its broader product lineup. The company is continuing development on the R3 and the performance-oriented R3X models. In a related move, a spinoff from Rivian recently revealed its first product, a modular but premium-priced electric bicycle called the TM-B.
