Rivian owners who like to drive hands-free will discover they can travel a lot further than they expected later this month. The EV start-up plans to increase from 150,000 to 3.5 million the number of miles its autonomous driving system can operate on. And, starting late next year, it plans to go even further with the release of the new R2 model which will be Rivian’s first to permit hands-free/eyes-off driving. According to CEO RJ Scaringe, there’s yet more to follow.
Rivian CEO RJ Scaringe says he has “never been more confident than I am today” about the future of the struggling EV manufacturer. That’s despite a series of challenges facing the battery-electric vehicle sector in general – including the loss of federal EV tax credits and the rise of the low-cost Chinese competitors who are threatening to enter the U.S. market. A critical test will come early next year with the launch of Rivian’s more affordable R2 model line. But it’s also counting on joint ventures and alliances like those with Volkswagen and Amazon, reports Headlight.News.
Months after announcing a tentative alliance, Rivian and Volkswagen firmed up their relationship Wednesday, announcing that the German automaker is making a nearly $6 billion investment into the U.S. EV start-up. The news sent Rivian shares surging after they had fallen by as much as two-thirds their 52-week-high in recent months.
It will be up to a California court to determine the outcome of a long-running suit pitting two EV manufacturers, Tesla and Rivian. The bigger of the two has accused its rival of stealing trade secrets and a judge has ruled the case will have to go to trial after Rivian filed to get it dismissed earlier this week.