Third Dimension's technology uses AI to match the physical world, which when combined with Rivian's reams of data could turn into a valuable simulator.

Rivian’s point-to-point driving feature will first reach owners through an invitation-only “Autonomy Early Access Program,” and the owners it picks will have to sign a non-disclosure agreement to get in.

The program, laid out on a new Rivian support page, covers US R1 Gen 2 and R2 owners who pay for Autonomy+. Rivian says point-to-point launches to that group in late 2026 and won’t expand broadly until 2027.

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Tesla’s Senior Manager of Cybercab General Assembly at Gigafactory Texas, Jody Kerns, is leaving the company to become Rivian’s Director of General Assembly for the R2 in Normal, Illinois.

He’s the second Cybercab launch leader to leave Tesla this year. The head of Cybercab new product introduction walked out in April, before the vehicle ever carried a paying passenger.

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Doug Field, the engineer who ran Tesla’s Model 3 program and later Ford’s entire EV operation, is now president of Mind Robotics, the industrial robotics startup Rivian CEO RJ Scaringe spun out of Rivian last year.

He lands at a company that has now raised more than $1 billion in under a year, and he’ll run product, engineering, and operations alongside Scaringe.

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Rivian is rolling out Pet Cam, a new feature in software update 2026.36 that lets R2 owners check on a pet left in the vehicle through a live video feed in the Rivian app.

It’s exclusive to the R2. R1T and R1S owners get new remote Pet Mode controls instead, and the same update brings the Rivian Assistant to the R2, four months after the SUV launched.

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Rivian’s first R2s with LiDAR and its in-house RAP1 autonomy computer will go to employees before the end of 2026. Paying customers will have to wait until 2027. It could be interpreted as a delay compared to previous communications.

The automaker laid out the timeline at an investor conference in New York this week, along with updates on point-to-point driving, its Uber robotaxi deal, and what LiDAR now costs it: “a few hundred dollars.”

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Rivian CEO RJ Scaringe says the upcoming R3 crossover will come in “materially lower” than the R2 on price, and that a follow-up model, the R4, will push prices down further still.

He didn’t give a number. But it’s the clearest sign yet that Rivian plans to keep walking its lineup down toward the heart of the market after the R2 launch.

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Rivian is rolling out RivianOS 2, the biggest overhaul of its in-car software since the R1 first shipped. For the first time, it puts every vehicle the company sells on a single software stack.

The update, version 2026.31, started reaching eligible R1 and R2 vehicles today. It brings a rebuilt interface, Unreal Engine 5 graphics, real-time police and speed-camera alerts, and a deeper AI layer Rivian calls Unified Intelligence.

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Rivian’s rejection of CarPlay and physical buttons in favor of voice and AI control sees to question safety, convenience, data control, and long-term car software support. Chuck Joiner, David Ginsburg, Jeff Gamet, Guy Serle, Web Bixby, Eric Bolden, Marty Jencius, and Jim Rea question whether Rivian has other motives, and then dive into Tesla updates, AI voice recreation of Stan Lee, Spider-Man ticket promotions, Dashlane concerns, and Andy Ihnatko’s new site. 

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Also has big plans beyond the TM-B. The startup mostly refers to itself as a "vehicle" company and has plans to make four-wheel pedal-assist cargo vehicles for Amazon.

Rivian reported its second-quarter 2026 earnings today, and there are improvements across the board. It’s a car. The company started delivering the R2, its first vehicle priced under $50,000, to customers on June 9.

The financials came in strong too. Revenue reached $1.658 billion, up 27% year-over-year, and Rivian posted a record $179 million gross profit while beating Wall Street on revenue, earnings, and adjusted EBITDA.

Out of Spec Reviews put a Rivian R2 Performance and a Tesla Model Y Performance on the same roads on the same afternoon. The R2 used 18% to 26% more energy at every single speed they tested.

That’s awkward, because the two SUVs carry identical EPA efficiency ratings, and Rivian CEO RJ Scaringe has been telling media the R2 matches the Model Y.

The indictment, which was unsealed Friday, alleges the Volkswagen engineers used confidential insider information to buy stock in Rivian.

The automaker joins a long line of companies seeking such refunds. In April, Rivian CFO Claire McDonough said she expected the company stood to reap a refund in the "tens of millions of dollars."

California Governor Gavin Newsom signed SB 168 today, creating a new “MyFirstEV” program that gives first-time electric vehicle buyers a $3,500 instant rebate at the dealership starting later this summer.

The point-of-sale discount is backed by $135.5 million in state funding, matched dollar-for-dollar by participating automakers — and a California-headquarters rule makes Rivian and Lucid the biggest winners, while Tesla qualifies only on its cheapest models.

A private seller in Littleton, Colorado has listed a brand-new 2027 Rivian R2 Performance on Cars.com for $79,900 — roughly $20,000 over what Rivian charges for the same vehicle.

The listing went up July 1, just weeks after Rivian started delivering the R2 to its first customers, and it comes with the kind of cover story flippers tend to lean on.

Rivian has commenced an underwritten public offering of 75 million shares of common stock, a raise worth roughly $1.5 billion based on the stock’s recent price.

The capital raise lands just days after Rivian’s stock rallied on stronger-than-expected Q2 delivery results and a raised full-year outlook.

Plaintiffs in the class -action complaint allege Rivian falsely promised for years it would bring hands-free driving to its first-generation R1 vehicles.

Rivian CEO RJ Scaringe says the money automakers charge for self-driving software won’t last, comparing autonomy to airbags: a paid option today, baked into the price of every car tomorrow.

The comments, made in a new interview with WIRED, amount to a quiet warning shot at Tesla, which just moved its “Full Self-Driving” package to a subscription-only model at $99 per month.

Rivian laid off hundreds of workers on Tuesday, or less than 2% of its workforce, just one week after it began deliveries of its all-important R2 SUV.

The electric automaker confirmed the cuts hit its service and customer teams, which include sales and marketing, as it tries to claw its way to a profit it has yet to ever post.