Rivian says it will launch an autonomous driving system comparable to Tesla FSD this year

Source: Global Market Report

RJ Scaringe, CEO of U.S. electric vehicle manufacturer Rivian, recently stated that the company is moving forward as planned and will launch a supervised autonomous driving system similar to Tesla's FSD later this year.

At an event last Thursday, Scaringe said that Rivian will release an advanced driver assistance system (ADAS), which is expected to allow the company’s second-generation models and the new R2 to achieve supervised autonomous driving from one destination to another — what is known as point-to-point driving.

Scaringe compared this technology to Tesla's FSD.

“Later this year, we will launch a fully supervised point-to-point autonomous driving system, which is very similar to Tesla's FSD,” he said. “This feature will be rolled out to all our second-generation models, and of course, the R2 as well.”

If Scaringe's predictions come true, the release of this feature will be a significant upgrade from Rivian’s current supervised driving system, known as Universal Hands-Free (UHF).

UHF is an advanced driver assistance system (ADAS) that enables steering and speed control on about 3.5 million miles (about 5.6 million kilometers) of clear roads in the United States and Canada. However, unlike the supervised version of Tesla’s FSD, it cannot automatically turn, recognize traffic lights, or operate in parking lots.

Scaringe's statement may suggest that Rivian's advanced driver assistance system (ADAS) has achieved a level of driving capability similar to FSD within a year of launching to customers.

The CEO did not specify whether there would be mileage restrictions when this autonomous driving technology is first released. Rivian has not commented on this yet.

In December last year, the company announced that it would heavily invest in the development of fully autonomous driving technology for future model series, aiming to achieve driving without the need for manual operation or supervision by the driver.

Scaringe stated at last Thursday's event that unsupervised autonomous driving technology will be launched next year.

One of Rivian’s strategies is to develop autonomous driving technology for fleets of driverless taxis. In March this year, the company signed a $1.25 billion agreement with Uber, under which Uber will purchase up to 50,000 R2 driverless taxis from Rivian to further its vision for autonomous taxi operations.