Rivian is putting AI in the driver’s seat. At an event on Thursday, the Palo Alto-based electric vehicle company unveiled a new AI assistant feature and teased details about the expanded self-driving tech it’s developing. Rivian’s AI-powered Rivian Assistant, which responds to the phrase “Hey Rivian” or can be activated via a button on the steering wheel, will be integrated with Google Calendar so it can show drivers their schedule, change a meeting time, and relay information to others.
“The assistant has memory, has context, it remembers the full story,” Wassym Bensaid, the company’s chief software officer, said during the event, after a live demonstration. “Who you are talking to, where you are going, and what you just searched for, and then it puts everything into a perfect message.” With these features, he added, Rivian will deliver an “AI-defined vehicle.”
The company also announced its forthcoming autonomous driving capabilities, which involve scenarios in which the driver can have their hands off the wheel but need to watch the road ahead, and eventually situations in which the driver can have their hands off the wheel and their eyes off the road. Coming down the pike next year is point-to-point travel, “in which the vehicle can drive address-to-address,” said Rivian founder and CEO, RJ Scaringe. “What that means is that you can get into the vehicle at your house, plug in the address to where you’re going, and the vehicle will completely drive you there.” When that happens, your hands can be off the wheel but you still need to be watching the road.
After that, he said, comes “eyes-off [driving], meaning you can navigate point-to-point with your hands off the wheel, but importantly, your eyes off the road. This gives you your time back. You can be on your phone, or reading a book—no longer needing to be actively involved in the operation of the vehicle.”
Rivian’s forthcoming R2 vehicle (pictured below) is expected to cost around $45,000 when it goes on sale next year, making it more affordable than the company’s R1T truck and R1S SUV. Both of those vehicles start at north of $70,000.
Scaringe also said that after the hands-off and eyes-off travel comes something more ambitious: an even greater level of autonomy approaching that of true self-driving vehicles, like in the ballpark of what Waymo already offers. “The next major step will be personal Level Four,” he said. “With this, the vehicle will operate entirely on its own. This means it can drop the kids off at school, it can pick you up at the airport.” Eventually, he said, “this also enables us to pursue opportunities in the ride-share space.”
Scaringe also said that the quantity of roads in North America that existing Rivian second-gen vehicles can drive in hands-off mode will expand after an over-the-air update. That will allow Rivians to handle over 3.5 million miles of roads in hands-off mode, he said.
Rob Verger
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