Rivian Recap: 12/12/2025

How'd I do with my predictions from last week? 

Let's find out 🙌

(Note: I'm slightly diverging the normal format given how much there is to cover from the events this week, but I expect to be back to normal again next week.)

What was actually announced (the highlights):

- Gen2 R1S/T are getting a massive jump in hands-free support with 2025.46

In the most immediate benefit to Gen2 customers, we are getting a dramatic increase in hands-free driver assistance from the ~150k miles of pre-mapped highways to >3.5m miles of road (any well-marked lane will do).

- Rivian is doubling down on multi-modal sensors (adding LiDAR)

In a world where Tesla has demonstrated impressive performance with a camera only approach, Rivian is adding a new in-house LiDAR and improved radar units to their sensor suite.

Note: The improved corner radars eliminate the need for ultrasonics due to their broader spectrum near-field detection. Nice!

- Rivian Assistant replaces for Alexa for all generations (ETA: Early '26)

Gen1, Gen2 and all future Rivians will be powered by Rivian Assistant. A powerful and deeply integrated in-car AI that can interact with every component of the vehicle, and yes, it handles messaging and calendars well.

What was demonstrated (but not nearly production ready):

- Point-to-Point city autonomy is coming for Gen2 and above

I got an early ride with a dev build of point-to-point running on a stock Gen2 vehicle around Palo Alto, CA. It's far from being ready for primetime, but the progress they've made in ~18 months is wild. 👇

(See my ride experience and impressions here)

- Gen3 autonomy compute is powered by in-house silicon

The biggest surprise was that Gen3 autonomy is a completely in-house designed chip. Doing your own silicon is a HUGE deal, and I'm going to have a dedicated video about this soon.

Quick prediction report card:

#1 - Universal Hands Free (coming this month!)... [A]

We are getting a wild to any well marked lane this month. I couldn't be more excited and this should make 95%+ of people happy.

#2 - Automated Co-Steer (TBD, but likely in .46, demo'd in P2P)... [B-]

The dev build was capable of this, but we aren't like to see this until well into 2026 at this point.

#3 - Point-to-Point Highway Autonomy... [C]

As you can see in the image above, this is going as "on-ramp to off-ramp", but I thought they'd be closer to promoting something like this to a more specific timeframe than "Coming 2026"

#4 - Point-to-Point City Autonomy... [A]

I walked away very impressed with how much progress Rivian showed for 18 months of fleet data, but it was essentially as I predicted where it was a very controlled environment, and we still had many disengagements.

The Cost of Autonomy

One big win for customers is how Rivian has elected to price this as a feature for their vehicles. Highway hands-on lane centering remains free (as it should be) but the trial Gen2 owners have been flips to paid by March 2026.

The cost is either a onetime fee of $2,500 or $49.99 per month.

Compared to Tesla FSD at $8,000 or $99 per month, the less feature rich benefits make sense to be at a lower cost. The onetime fee of $2,500 (around the cost of a paint color) is the most reasonable I've seen from a North American OEM for this kind of technology, even in more limited form.

However, the subscription is not ideal because it's not half as good as FSD to justify being half the subscription cost. I think they should've gone for something more like $400/year or the onetime fee.

R2 Fallout May Surprise You

With the hotly anticipated R2 likely to roll off the line in approximately 90 days or so, many people are keen to know if it has all the new goodies on-board.

The unfortunate news tucked away in this event is that the launch version of R2 will not have LiDAR and appears to not have Gen3 compute.

If you're interested in the highest levels of autonomy, that means you're going to want to wait until late 2026 to pick up an R2 that has the upgrades.

The in-house LiDAR design is one of the sleekest I've seen so far, and according to the sensor team I talked to, uses different wavelengths as to not damage camera sensors like units from other vendors.

The Reality Check

Everyone walked away feeling pretty excited about the software features and training flywheel that Rivian has been rapidly iterating on.

As they should be.

To me personally, the highlight is what they are doing with their custom in-house silicon and the implications that has over the long term.  I have a LOT more to say on this, and will be collecting my thoughts there about this very soon.

Given how much the timeline has slipped though for the features that are now in what is called Autonomy+, and given the 2 steps forward, 1 step back that Tesla has encountered... there is definitely a need for Rivian to walk the walk here.

I do think they will get to a very compelling end state solution, but they are most likely to be at least 6-12 months behind where they think they will be.

Community

Going to this event down here in Palo Alto reminded me that the Rivian community in particular is a special one, both from creators and owners alike.

I really appreciated that this event brought in a different spectrum than the usual die hard crowd given the AI specific focus, and yet the curious vibe persisted.

(Here's Tony Caravano from Rivian, always such a warm guy 👋)

Rivian themselves were gracious hosts, and I'm incredibly thankful I had the opportunity to come down and get this first hand experience to bring back to you and help you stay informed about what's coming + make educated decisions.

Worth Checking Out - Sponsor

I've had our VION sunshades in both our R1S and R1T for months now. They're custom-fit for Rivian's expansive glass roof, and honestly, they can make a big difference on hot days or when the vehicle is parked.

VION sponsored my 1-year review video, and they're offering Rivian Recap readers 10% off anything site wide with code "TRAVIS".

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

After the November deals came to a close, Rivian went back to their crack marketing team to come up with the best offer they could muster.

(*Checks notes*) uhhh, what I mean is... they copy/pasted Novembers deals. 😅

That means the best deals are the same with $5k in lease cash towards any 2026 dual-standard configuration.

You can still stack this with up to $3k in additional savings for purchasing the same day as a trade-in quote or demo drive ($1k) and accepting a trade-in offer ($2k bonus).

That's $8k in lease cash bonus value on top of the already improved money factor leasing available on the dual-standard.

BUT! Rivian has made a few changes to how they package a number of trims, now properly including what I think are some of the best features anyway and outsized customer delight compared to price (like the tonneau and utility panel).

The price and component change should just be for new builds so still tread carefully and use the shop filters (linked below) for the best configurations of pre-built vehicles in the R1 shop.

Here's the bottom line for offers overall..

All 2025's are 1.99% financing, but their lease rates are often worse than the newer model year (dumb).

For 2026's, you can get 1.99% financing for the performance upgraded duals (large and max), or the upper-end tri and quad motors.

Must place your order by December 31st.

My suggestion remain the same as it was during recent 1-year review.

I'd go with a 2026 model year, and lease either a dual-standard (with premium audio upgrade) with $5k lease cash:

2026 R1S dual-standard (with premium audio)

2026 R1T dual-standard (with premium audio, tonneau, utility panel)

OR, I'd go up to a 2026 tri-motor for the improved driving dynamics.

2026 R1S tri-motor

2026 R1T tri-motor

Grab either of those on a lease, and snag the extra $2k when you trade-in, plus another $1k for doing it the same day as a demo drive or trade-in quote.

Plus get either 100 gear shop credits for dual-standard, 250 for dual-large/max or 500 points with a tri/quad-motor variants when you use a referral.

All referrals also get 3 months of free charging on the Rivian Adventure Network, which would be handy with holiday travel.

I hope enjoyed 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