Rivian Introduces Self-Driving Chip and Autonomy Plans to Compete with Tesla

Rivian has unveiled its self-driving chip and autonomy plans during its AI and Autonomy Day in Palo Alto, California. The company is launching an Autonomy+ subscription service priced at $49.99 per month or a one-time purchase at $2,500 for access to its self-driving suite.

CEO RJ Scaringe emphasized that the system will improve as more data is collected from miles driven. Rivian's new hardware platform includes the RAP1 chip, which is 50 times more powerful than current chips in Rivian vehicles and capable of over 800 trillion calculations per second.

Rivian's approach combines 11 cameras, five radar sensors, and a single forward-facing LiDAR, diverging from Tesla's vision-only strategy. The RAP1 chip powers the Autonomy Compute Module 3, featuring 1600 sparse INT8 TOPS and processing 5 billion pixels per second.

For its future R2 vehicles, Rivian aims for SAE Level 4 automated driving, allowing passengers to sit in the back without needing to take control. Additionally, Rivian will enhance its second-generation R1 vehicles with Universal Hands-Free capabilities for over 3.5 million miles of roads in the U.S. and Canada.

This move positions Rivian alongside Tesla, Waymo, and others in the competitive race for autonomy.