Rivian Accelerates Autonomy Race with In-House Chip and Subscription Service

Rivian has officially entered the autonomous driving arena, unveiling its proprietary self-driving chip and a new autonomy strategy at its AI and Autonomy Day. The electric vehicle startup aims to challenge established players like Tesla by offering advanced self-driving capabilities through a subscription model and future ride-sharing services.

Key Takeaways

• Rivian introduces its own self-driving chip, RAP1, and a new autonomy computer, ACM3.

• An "Autonomy+" subscription service is launching at $49.99/month or $2,500 upfront.

• The company plans for Level 4 autonomy, aiming to give drivers their time back.

• Rivian's approach combines multiple sensors, including LiDAR, unlike Tesla's vision-only strategy.

• Future plans include ride-sharing applications for its autonomous technology.

Rivian's Autonomy Push

At its AI and Autonomy Day event, Rivian announced its ambitious plans to compete directly with industry leaders in the self-driving space. The company revealed its in-house developed "RAP1" chip, designed to significantly enhance its autonomous driving capabilities. This move is coupled with the introduction of an "Autonomy+" subscription service, priced at $49.99 per month or a one-time payment of $2,500, granting access to its suite of self-driving features.

CEO RJ Scaringe emphasized that the system will continuously learn and improve through deep learning, similar to Tesla's approach, as it accumulates more driving data. The ultimate goal is to achieve Level 4 autonomy, which would allow vehicles to handle most driving situations without human intervention, thereby freeing up occupants' time.

Hardware and Sensor Suite

Rivian is diverging from Tesla's vision-only strategy by adopting a multi-sensor approach. Its system will integrate 11 cameras, five radar sensors, and a forward-facing LiDAR unit. The newly developed RAP1 chip, manufactured by TSMC, is a significant upgrade, boasting approximately 50 times the power of the current chip in Rivian vehicles and capable of performing over 800 trillion calculations per second.

This chip powers the Autonomy Compute Module 3 (ACM3), Rivian's third-generation autonomy computer. The ACM3 features 1600 sparse INT8 TOPS (Trillion Operations Per Second) and can process 5 billion pixels per second. The RAP1 also includes RivLink, a low-latency interconnect technology designed for scalability and increased processing power.

Future Rollouts and Expansion

Initially, the Autonomy+ service will be available for personally owned vehicles. However, Rivian has stated that ride-sharing applications are part of its long-term vision, leveraging the autonomous technology for commercial purposes. The company also plans to roll out "Universal Hands-Free" (UHF) advancements to its second-generation R1 vehicles, enabling hands-free driving on approximately 3.5 million miles of roadways in the U.S. and Canada.

With these developments, Rivian positions itself as a serious contender alongside established autonomous driving companies like Waymo and Zoox, intensifying the race for automotive autonomy.