Shares of Rivian were off roughly 3% during the hourlong event,\u00a0and fell further\u00a0as OpenAI made its own AI announcement<\/a> Thursday, revealing its most advanced model yet. The stock was down as much as 9% in afternoon trading.<\/p>\n Rivian also said it plans to roll out an Autonomy+ subscription with “continuously expanding capabilities” to customers of its second-generation vehicles in early 2026, to be powered by its Rivian Autonomy Processors and autonomy computers. <\/p>\n The Autonomy+ offering will be priced at $2,500 as a one-time, up-front purchase or is available for $49.99 per month to start. By comparison, competitor Tesla<\/a> offers its premium FSD (Supervised) option for $8,000 up front or a $99 per month fee. <\/p>\n “AI is enabling us to create technology and customer experiences at a rate that is completely different from what we’ve seen in the past,” Rivian founder and CEO RJ Scaringe said during the event.<\/p>\n Company executives said in a statement that a near-future software update will include a “Universal Hands-Free,” capability, enabling Rivian customers “hands-free driving” on more than 3.5 million miles of roads in North America, covering the vast majority of marked roads in the U.S.<\/p>\n Scaringe said the new advanced driver-assistance system will continue to improve as more miles are driven, through reinforced learning.<\/p>\n Unlike its primary competitor, Tesla, Rivian said it intends to use lidar, or light detection and ranging,<\/a>\u00a0systems and radar sensors in its forthcoming R2 cars to enable “level 4,” or fully automated driving, as defined by SAE Levels of Driving Automation.<\/p>\n A passenger can sleep in the back seat in a level 4 self-driving car while it carries them to their destination in normal traffic and weather conditions. Waymo, the Alphabet<\/a>-owned robotaxi leader in the U.S., considers its vehicles level 4. <\/p>\n Rivian CEO RJ Scaringe at the company’s first “Autonomy and AI Day” on Dec. 11, 2025, in Palo Alto, California.<\/p>\n Lora Kolodny | CNBC<\/p>\n Scaringe said Thursday the company’s forthcoming self-driving vehicles enable it to pursue robotaxis, which Tesla has promised for years but has yet to launch.<\/p>\n “Now, while our initial focus will be on personally owned vehicles, which today represent a vast majority of the miles to the United States, this also enables us to pursue opportunities in the rideshare space,” Scaringe said during the event.<\/p>\n Rivian is not alone in aiming to deliver autonomous systems that meet level 4 expectations, while rolling out partially automated features along the way to drivers who generally want these to reduce fatigue on long drives or make them safer behind the wheel overall. <\/p>\n Tesla and General Motors<\/a> are working on their own proprietary driverless systems, while Honda<\/a>, Lucid<\/a> and Nissan have partnered with venture-backed autonomous vehicle tech startups (Helm.AI, Nuro and Wayve, respectively) to develop similar systems with a range of different technical approaches.<\/p>\n Stock Chart IconStock chart icon Rivian and Tesla stock’s since Rivian went public. <\/p>\n Powering Rivian’s self-driving aspirations will be a new in-house chip, which\u00a0is\u00a0set to launch in 2026. Vidya Rajagopalan, Rivian vice president of electrical hardware, said the chip uses “multi-chip module” packaging and has “high memory bandwidth,” which is “key for AI applications.” Rivian’s chip boasts bandwidth of 205 gigabytes per second.<\/p>\n “Rivian is uniquely positioned to move from a software-defined vehicle and bring to the world an AI-defined vehicle,” Rivian Chief Software Officer Wassym Bensaid said.<\/p>\n The automaker also announced a new AI-powered “Rivian Assistant,” a next-generation voice interface launching in early 2026 on its first- and second-generation vehicles.<\/p>\n Rivian is under pressure to prove its future growth potential to investors<\/a> and to grow its customer base amid slowing sales of battery electric vehicles in the U.S. and competition from Chinese EV makers internationally. <\/p>\n![\"Rivian](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/108240811-17654791631765479161-42935966059-1080pnbcnews.jpg\")
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