Rivian Recap: 07/31/2026

Hey there,

Here's your weekly Rivian Recap for July 31st, 2026.

Tidbits from the Q2 2026 quarterly earnings, R2 Premium trim gets pushed, anxiety around R2 range, 2027 R1S & R1T, and point-to-point coming this year?

Let's dive in!

Quick question: I've had requests to do live Q&A sessions, or take personalized questions for those sorting out specific situations.

Would there be any interest in a members only live chat on a semi-regular basis? Hit reply and let me know if this would be appealing to you.

I'm trying to figure out a fair way to be as useful to you as possible.

Software

This week has been fairly quiet on the regular software release front, outside of a very limited version bump of 2026.15 (see below), but that doesn't mean we lack info about software, thanks to the quarterly earnings call.

During the call and listed in the shareholder letter, we see that Rivian Assistant is listed as "later this year" for R2.

That's disappointing seeing as, even with it's flaws, Rivian Assistant is making a case for being the single most useful update to the R1 fleet since launch.

As a quick reminder, Rivian Assistant gives you:

- Nearly complete vehicle control by voice, "Turn on all seat heaters except for mine", "Make the drive mode spicy"

- Voice control over your media, "Play Human After All by Daft Punk"

- SMS integration, "Send a message to Katie that lets her know my ETA"

- Navigation and support for points of interest, "Let's go to Cap Sante Marina in Anacortes"

- General world knowledge, such as, "What was the score of the Seahawks game?"

- Deep vehicle understanding, "My vehicle has been acting funny when changing drive modes, is there anything in my logs that would indicate an issue?"

There are still rails where it falls short, or has typical AI hallucinations (such as thinking the R1S has the R1T gear tunnel), but it's been a solid release.

I'm sure Rivian OS 2.0 is complicating it a bit for the team, and they are probably also trying to avoid any embarrassing mistakes like the R1S/R1T mixup I just mentioned.

Originally, I had hoped we would see Rivian Assistant come in the next 1-2 release cycles, which is still possible, but "later this year" is not the big confidence boost you'd hope for as deliveries ramp up.

On the autonomy front, we heard repeated confidence from RJ during the call about timelines for big jumps in driver assistance functionality.

"Point to Point at the end of this year (2026)"

"Eyes free by the end of of 2027"

"Level 4 autonomy with Uber in 2028"

Unsurprisingly, the particular word choices surrounding those headlines is worth exploring to properly set customer expectations.

I'll cover the hardware components in the next section, but here's the main takeaway I want people to understand:

Technically being true, and being accessible by regular customers are two completely different things.

Rivian can absolutely achieve "Point to Point in 2026" if even a single vehicle, in a single city, is running a closed access beta of the software.

My expectation here is that we will see a closed beta program that is restricted by geographies, allowing Rivian to slowly expand the program in very controlled ways that also limit exposure or negative headlines.

I don't expect point-to-point to be more widely available to consumers paying for Autonomy+ until the first half of 2027.

That's still less than 12 months from now, and it's still quite aggressive compared with what we have on our Gen2 vehicles right now.

The one consistent promise here though is that every Gen2 and newer will get supervised point to point autonomy, fundamentally similar to Tesla FSD Supervised today, and they're going to get access to it in relatively short order.

Much bigger questions come into play for Level 3 "eyes off" functionality, where that may work, and what hardware that is likely going to require.

It's very plausible we see it come to Gen2 vehicles as well for very strict zones such as well understood divided highways. But it's also going to start bleeding into the liability argument and may require Rivian Insurance.

As for Level 4 for Uber, while not explicitly mentioned during this earnings call, in past calls it was revealed that the initial level 4 vehicles for Uber will have a different set of hardware on the vehicle than what will ship to customers.

There's a huge sticky topic around liability, insurance, and how vehicles will operate "legally" that may not be "nice or comfortable". A prime example is going the explicit speed limit, even if surrounding traffic is going way faster.

Given the liability concern, I think we will ultimately see a more complete driving suite that sits above Autonomy+ in features and price in the future.

Hardware

R2 deliveries are continuing to ramp up, and I have word that my Catalina Cove + 20" All-Terrain equipped build has landed at my local service center.

Being a semi-early build, there are a few known revisions they already want to swap out with a newer part to make sure I have the best shot possible at a great customer experience.

I've seen examples of this with others who don't have an audience or platform like I've picked up over the past 18 months or so have similar experiences.

I'd be lying if I said Rivian wasn't aware of the potential impact of content for a poorly delivered vehicle, but at the end of the day they still have to deliver a vehicle using factory parts to me and it should happen here, soon.

As sad as I am to give up my beloved Gen2 R1T, I'm looking forward to the next chapter with R2 and bringing the most relevant content for you all.

Speaking of my R1T, I took time this week to dive into the depreciation these vehicles can take, along with contributing factors to EV depreciation in particular.

There's a lot more to these vehicles though than how much they lose, and there are multiple ways to significantly dampen the impacts of it.

As with most things in life, timing is everything.

Two big hardware related tidbits were mentioned during the earnings call that may result in confusing or misleading headlines from casual outlets.

The first big one is that "RAP1 is coming end of 2026".

Similar to the nuance I touched on in the software section, having a few units of RAP1 and/or LiDAR doesn't guarantee a fleet wide cutover for new production.

I covered this earlier this month in this video:

RJ said multiple times it's coming by the end of the year, and it's also mentioned in the shareholder letter. However, I can't help but have the impression this messaging was to rally Wall Street more than it was to signal to customers about what is reasonable to expect.

The second earnings call related hardware tidbit was in relation to the much anticipated R2 Premium trim.

It seems R2 Premium has been pushed to 2027.

Given that the launch version of R2 Performance has a "materially higher take rate than expected", Rivian is probably content selling the higher margin trim for as long as they can sustain sales velocity.

I find the comment about take rate really interesting, because if you peek around the internet, it sure seems like the average experience is that invite windows are pulling forward, and an increased push for demo drives.

Hopefully it's just Rivian being optimistic about their ability to produce and deliver units, despite the logistics bottleneck happening at the factory trying to get these vehicles out of Normal, Illinois and into customer hands.

Lastly for hardware, I need to touch on the "highway range testing" done by RivianTrackr and Out Of Spec, because it has caused more range anxiety than I would have originally expected.

In short, the 330 mile EPA rated R2 variant with 21" wheels produced an observed range of 253 miles when driven at a steady speed of 70 mph in the testing from Out Of Spec.

The video coverage has caused anxiety for people when comparing how the Tesla Model Y Performance did in the same test.

I'm planning a more detailed video about this after seeing how spun up many were during the live chat on yesterday's earnings call, but here's a few key things I want you to know before over reacting:

1. When comparing the EPA cycle, Rivian R2 is as efficient as the Tesla Model Y Performance.

This should not even be up for debate, and trying to get people worked up about "not hitting 330 miles of EPA rated range" is intellectually dishonest.

2. There are things about the R2 design approach that give it a significant advantage at lower mixed speeds than what Tesla offers.

3. Real world highway range is indeed likely to be 250-260 miles with sustained highway speeds, which a fraction of owners actually do for hours on end.

I'm aware the number of people planning long road trip segments is certainly not zero, but ultimately the form factor of R2 at higher speeds has an exponential impact to range.

And finally, about the range "issue": I think it's important to note that while I believe this test was done in good faith, it's still a sample size of one.

(To RivianTrackr's credit, there was at last one follow-up article that tried to explain the range differences. But, the videos are what got attention.)

What we really need is more data to get a more accurate and representative picture. Perhaps our friends over at Rivian Roamer can help us distill this from a fleet-wide perspective for a clear-eyed review of what to expect.

I also plan to do my own long distance road trip to see what an average efficiency ends up being over long distances, varied terrain, climates, and altitudes to see how it shakes out in the real world.

Community

The EV community is smaller than many of us think, at least here in the United States, so it's always nice to see people go beyond brand tribalism.

Here's a friendly wager I have with a local Cybertruck owner about Autonomy and LiDAR, and it's everything I wish for the EV community at large:

No matter the outcome, the "worst case" scenario is I get to enjoy a meal and a delicious shake with a fellow EV-enthusiast.

Just a heads up that it's last day for the $2 discount for Stay Curious stickers.

This code expires after today, so if you're into the design or want to support the content, I'd love to personally mail you some of these.

It has been such a joy getting photos back from those of you rocking the sticker on your vehicle... I appreciate you!

Worth Checking Out - VION

Summer is in full swing with the warm weather and I'm reminded just how much cooler and quieter our cabins are with sunshades installed.

While sometimes it's awesome to have an open cabin feel, getting some reprieve along with the huge benefit for a cabin that cools down dramatically faster with quieter HVAC operation is a welcome change on hot days.

VION now has an update to their popular R1S kit that can perfectly fit the 3rd row as well now, and a gray version 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

Going into the earnings call, there were a few hopeful holdouts that we'd learn more about 2027 R1S and R1T, but unfortunately there wasn't anything.

Given that many current offers expire today, we could learn more as soon as this coming week. I expect a few new options, but not a big generational leap until at least next year.

For those who are R2 reservation holders, make sure you take advantage of each available discount, credit, or free gear you're entitled to.

Here's my video breakdown on what you could be leaving on the table.

A notable offer for the final 2026 R1 push that expires today.

2026 Tri-Motor R1S & R1T improve to 0.99% financing

We seem to be *very* close to 2027 models dropping, but this offers combined with any other "reduced price" on remaining inventory should stack up to be a pretty solid deal.

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

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)

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 ($3k Lease or 0.99% for 60 months) [Lease vs Buy Example]

2026 R1S Tri-Motor

2026 R1T Tri-Motor

All R1 referrals also get 3 months of free charging on the Rivian Adventure Network, as well as some shop credits (varies by trim).

I hope enjoyed this week's edition of the Rivian Recap. Let me know what you'd like to see more of in future editions!