Rivian CEO says autonomy could enable different vehicle designs

Rivian CEO and founder RJ Scaringe says autonomous driving could open the door to vehicle designs beyond the SUVs and trucks the company makes today. Speaking to TechCrunch at TechCrunch Disrupt last week, he said autonomy could create new design opportunities and different experiences for personally owned vehicles.

Scaringe said Rivian’s next vehicle after the R1, R2 and R3 will be called the R4, but the company has not shown what it will look like. He described it as “cool” and “great.”

The article notes that a decade of similar predictions did not bring a wave of new vehicle designs into production. Autonomous driving took longer to develop than expected, while automakers faced challenges manufacturing and selling new types of vehicles. Today, robotaxis operate in multiple cities, and electric vehicle motors and batteries have become less expensive. Still, the article says Rivian has substantial work ahead: it is scaling R2 production and continuing to develop its self-driving software.

Rivian says its driver assistance system currently lets drivers take their hands off the wheel while they watch the road. The company has promised that by the end of this year the system will support supervised point-to-point driving without intervention. It is also working toward full autonomy for R2 robotaxis planned for Uber’s ride-hail app.

Scaringe said he expects most driving to remain in personally owned vehicles, even with Level 4 autonomy. He said 95% of miles driven in the United States are in personally owned vehicles, and suggested that share could fall to 90% or 80% while remaining the vast majority.