Rivian Recap: 04/24/2026

Hey there,

Here's your weekly Rivian Recap for April 24th, 2026.

The first 'customer' deliveries of R2, a tornado hits the R2 facility in Normal, V2H designs, autonomy milestones, a rare Gear Shop sale, and a new merch drop.

Let's dive in!

Software

This week Rivian formally announced and celebrated the start of R2 production and "customer" deliveries that we've been seeing for a few weeks.

I put "customer" in quotes because the first run of vehicles are going to employees, which we're seeing an ever increasing number of sightings around the country.

(Which is fine, employees are more tolerant to initial hiccups with software, etc.)

This process started some time ago, because the photos we're seeing are finally full color versions of the b&w photos Rivian shared on social media.

While normally this is hardware (I'll share more below), part of this press push was an appearance by RJ on Bloomberg that caught my attention.

Unfortunately, the clip is slightly truncated vs what aired live.

We know that Rivian is pushing hard towards improving the autonomy features for the Rivian fleet, especially with Gen3 that will include their first in-house chip and custom designed LiDAR unit.

Hearing RJ continue to commit to hands-off, eyes on by the end of the year as we rapidly approach May is honestly a bit surprising.

But the bigger shock is him signaling that Rivian will offer eyes off in operational domains, such as pre-approved highways for Gen2.

Will Rivian not only have the features to fulfill on this, but the legal coverage?

Will "eyes off" require you to have both Autonomy+ AND Rivian insurance?

Even with ~87% of people indicating they don't care about autonomy features *at all*, it does feel like if you fast forward a few years and these systems get more competent, that demand curve could rapidly shift.

Being compelling is the key part here though.

That shift is mostly a software thing, as the existing Gen2 fleet still has very powerful Nvidia hardware (a similar version ships on initial R2).

Yet, Autonomy+ today is limited to features that are mostly along the lines of a better version of Tesla Autopilot.

Although co-steer is awesome, along with lane selection control.

As Tesla has found out the hard way, perhaps even more powerful hardware isn't enough to run the models needed for a truly great experience.

Hardware

As a bit of a continuation from software, we're seeing so many early employee delivery vehicles cropping up around the country.

The official announcement has also made it so several employees now feel comfortable sharing more photos from early production.

Congrats to the team for their hard work trying to ramp up a new product on a new production line.

You have hundreds of thousands of eager buyers ready to put these products into use, which is a very rewarding thing.

A quick note about color availability at launch for R2.

It looks like the following colors will be the most readily available:

- Esker Silver
- Glacier White
- Midnight Black
- Catalina Cove Blue
- Half Moon Grey
- Launch Green

With later availability for:

- Borealis
- Forest Green

Perhaps the later availability colors will be around when we see the lighter colored, Coastal Cloud Signature, also come online.

Here's a walkthrough of the design from the Chief Design Officer, Jeff Hammoud if you want to see more of the colors:

And here's an interior showcase with a weird focus on the Costal Cloud Signature interior, which isn't available until later this year.

Finally... some clues for V2H!

Since the initial Gen1 R1T launched, Rivian has been touting the capability for every Rivian made, to send power back to your home.

While many patents are not indicators of final products that actually ship, this one is so long overdue it feels like we are actually going to see this.

Is 2026 finally the year we get V2H hardware + software?

What's unclear from these filings though is if this unit is AC or DC, or perhaps if it's a modular solution that supports both.

As I mentioned in my Rivian charging video, all R1 vehicles in the field would need DC support for exporting power back to your house.

Whereas the R2 platform is AC, which is what your home runs on already.

Fundamentally, this means the on-house hardware requirements for the two vehicles are different. I'm really hoping this is at worst a modular solution that allows you to put a 2nd box next to it for DC conversion.

One other interesting patent find from @Hilbe, is in relation to the R2 rear wiper.

At a time when Tesla front wipers still seem to struggle attempting to make the most common wipers work correctly, it's interesting to see so many inputs being used for what is mostly a convenience.

The R2 facility area dedicated to logistics and receiving was hit by a tornado last weekend causing some shocking damage to the building and dumping a bunch of standing water that had to be dealt with.

Thankfully, no one was hurt and Rivian reports that the disruption to operations was far more contained than you'd think looking at the photos.

RJ reiterated that they are back up and running after rapidly rerouting the logistics flow of parts through other solutions to keep R2 production going.

Lastly, we're seeing a rare Gear Shop sale and new bundles.

Newsletter image

Thanks to Jose over at RivianTrackr, we have a nice rundown of popular items that are on sale right now through May 3rd.

Seeing the floor mats, cross bars, and a fan favorite of the Kammok Awning on sale should make some new owners happy.

Plus, if you have any of those referral points, they now go a bit further.

Community

Thanks to requests from people like you, I've put together the first set of merch with the Stay Curious logo that I'm truly happy with the quality.

There are adult t-shirts and sweatshirts, along with youth sized shirts.

With colors inspired by much of the Rivian lineup, there should be something for everyone, and frankly more color choices than the vehicles have today.

(8x adult shirt colors, 6x sweatshirt colors)

As a thank you for being here on the newsletter, I've put together a discount for you with the code "RECAP10".

I hope you love them as much as I do! ✌️

(I know people want the hats, but my first run was super expensive to do and I'm going through samples + design tweaks to find one that meets the quality bar and can be priced reasonably. Stay tuned.)

Here are a few community events over the next week or so:

- 04/25 - Bay Area Rivian Club - 5th Annual BARC Breakfast at Alice's + Scenic Drive

- 04/25 - Rocky Mountain Rivian Club - Adopt-a-Highway Clean-up

- 04/25 - Emerald City Rivian Club - Fourth Annual Earth Day Beach Cleanup

(I'll be at the ECRC Beach Cleanup... I hope to see you there!)

- 05/02 - New Jersey Rivian Club x Mid-Atlantic Rivian Club - Semi-Annual Off-Roading Adventure Day

- 05/20 - Central Oregon Rivian Club - CORC & Caffeine with Sparrow Mercado

Worth Checking Out - VION

It's that time of the year again where the big orb in the sky starts showing up.

Maybe that's more of a northern joke, but regardless it feels like summer temps are coming and VION sunshades that are custom fit for the R1S and R1T can make a big difference for cabin heat.

VION just launched an update to their popular R1S kit that can perfectly fit the 3rd row as well now, and a white version is coming shortly for light interiors.

As a subscriber to the Rivian Recap, you can get 10% off anything site wide with code "TRAVIS", on what is already a stellar product for the price.

Check out their sunshades, carbon activated air filters, and more:

VION Sunshade // VION Air Filters

My thanks to VION for helping make this newsletter possible.

Latest Deals

It's the final week of availability for the lower financing offers of 0.99% or $3k towards some leases. We've seen slightly better offers than this, but we've also certainly see worse ones as well.

If you're on the fence and interested in a 2026 R1 vehicle, these are perfectly acceptable offers to roll with. Breakdown and calculated examples below.

Bonus $500 stacked offer expires April 27th: Details here.

Here's what's sticking out for deals this week:

Get $3k lease bonus or 0.99% for 60 months on these builds:

Dual Large w/Performance [Lease vs Buy Example]:

2026 R1S Dual-Large w/Performance (Premium Audio)

2026 R1T Dual-Large w/Performance (Premium Audio, Utility V2 Tonneau)

[Non-performance large/max get 1.99% finance, no lease incentive]

Dual Max w/Performance [Lease vs Buy Example]:

2026 R1S Dual-Max w/Performance (Premium Audio)

2026 R1T Dual-Max w/Performance (Premium Audio, Utility, V2 Tonneau)

Tri-Max [Lease vs Buy Example]:

2026 R1S Tri-Motor