Rivian Recap: 08/22/2025
Hey there,
Here's your weekly Rivian Recap for August 22nd, 2025.
This weeks update of 2025.26 is a bigger update than it seems, your last chance for heavily discounted leases and more.
Let's dive in!
R1
Rivian released their 2025.26 software update this week, and for Gen2 things are far more exciting than they seem on the surface.
To start, it appears that Gen2 is now fully transitioned to the in-house autonomy solution and no longer uses the Mobileye suite.
This is a HUGE milestone for Rivian's autonomy and AI team, and should save them approximately $225 million in 2027 with scaled R2 production.
As a follow-on for 2025.26, especially for Gen2 is the fact that the audio is notably better (at least when spatial/Atmos is disabled).
Some folks on Reddit think I'm crazy since there aren't any notes about audio improvement but there is for sure more low end that wasn't there before.
Wassym Bensaid (VP of software) has confirmed that there are indeed changes but the BIGGER changes are coming in the next release (2025.30 most likely).
All I know is that if this level of improvement didn't justify a note in the improvements, then I'm genuinely pumped for what the next one should have.
The audio performance right now still lags what we had in our Model Y Performance, but it's finally crossing into "enjoyable" and I'll hold off judgement until we get the next audio focused dropped in about a month.
R2 + Beyond
RJ appears to be on a bit of press tour right now with podcast interviews.
This new one from InsideEV's has some information we've heard before, but there are some tidbits that were interesting to hear.
One that jumped out to me that most was that Rivian expected more people to be willing to flex their acceptable price points and stretch in order to get into an R1 based vehicle.
And while The R1S is the best selling premium car (not just EV) in both California and Washington, it is clearly hitting some sales headwinds with declining sales. This will only get more difficult with the leasing tax credit going away.
Clearly, R2 is a big moment for the company, but RJ is also very clear that they will need to continue to work downmarket to get continued scale with R3, R4 and R5 which is as far as their roadmap currently exists for.
The lesson and takeaway for them with R1 is clear...
Car buyers are more price sensitive than they originally thought, and in order to scale their operations there needs to be an abundance of options at lower price points than even R2.
If you're excited about Rivians and EVs in general but have so far been priced out, this should be exciting news about the future.
Autonomy
While I touched on the autonomy updates earlier in the newsletter in regard to 2025.26, I have to say that the scope of this update far exceeded my expectations based on what was in the notes.
It's clear that this was a massive change in the AI model as well as the hardware being used.
The rest of 2025 and now 2026 are likely to get far faster updates and improvements now that Gen2 Rivians are wholesale on their own platform that can benefit from the training flywheel.
It's pretty fantastic that adaptive cruise control is now roughly on par with Tesla FSD v13, and completely smokes Tesla Autopilot/TACC performance.
Do you think Rivian will hit their "unmapped" driver assistance by the end of the year so we have lane centering everywhere?
How long do you think until we get lane shading away from other vehicles?
I'm expecting things to get pretty exciting on this front, and get there in a hurry.
Community
Last week I asked for feedback about the newsletter both in branding and categories covered.
Thank you so much to everyone who replied, I appreciate you!
It seems like there is a strong appetite for this to be Rivian heavy, but there's also room to include a few broader EV, autonomy and renewable energy links as well which seems like a perfect compromise.
The name may not matter in that case, so it can stay as 'Rivian Recap' for now, but if the name changes the focus remains the same.
Updates about Rivian and interesting stuff happening in the space overall.
I also just picked up a limited test run of a new Stay Curious hat and I couldn't be happier with how they came out.
I'm hoping to get some (very) limited availability of these available to purchase online for those who are located in the United States are interested.
What do you think of the design?
Would you prefer to see any other color combinations?
Latest Deals
We are in the final push of great lease deals for 2025 and even 2026 Rivian's before the EV tax credit leasing discount expires.
I've broken down which offers are the best value and I do my best to help you understand what timelines we are on for the end of these deals.
Unlike past deals, once these offers are gone... they're gone.
That tax credit isn't coming back within any reasonable time frame.
Here are the supported builds with offers + my recommended upgrades on audio, tonneau, etc.
2026 Dual-Max Performance
- 2026 Dual-Max Performance R1S
- 2026 Dual-Max Performance R1T
2025-2026 Dual-Standard (an excellent entry value)
I would highly encourage everyone to lease so you can claim the incentive, even if you plan to buy out immediately.
Here's my video about lease vs buy to help better understand the numbers.
I hope enjoyed the this weeks edition of the Rivian Recap. Let me know what you'd like to see more of in future editions!
Even if you just want to say hi, hit reply – I'd love to get to know you 👋
Stay curious ✌️,
Travis Ketchum
P.S. Thinking about buying a new Rivian?
Make sure you use a referral code. A friend, a neighbor, or someone who has helped you along the way.
Here's mine: TRAVIS4699411