On Thursday, electric vehicle manufacturer Rivian held an event titled "Artificial Intelligence and Autonomous Driving" at its office in Silicon Valley, announcing that it is designing its own AI chip to achieve full autonomy. This bold move, although somewhat late, aims to catch up with Tesla and other automakers that have been researching this technology for longer.
Rivian introduced its proprietary silicon chip and a series of upcoming autonomous driving features at the event. The company stated that these features will eventually allow it to sell Level 4 autonomous vehicles to customers, including LiDAR sensors for the upcoming R2 model.
On the software side, Rivian also announced the launch of a new AI voice assistant and a foundational "large driving model." This model will be trained in a way similar to large language models like OpenAI's ChatGPT, allowing it to "extract superior driving strategies from massive data sets and apply them to vehicles."
In addition, the company plans to integrate all these features into the Autonomy Plus subscription service, creating a new potential revenue source for the company.
Rivian CEO RJ Scaringe said at the event that the company is at a "turning point," and today's announcement aims to "save time for customers while they are in the car."
This statement comes amid tough financial realities. With the $7,500 federal electric vehicle tax credit expiring, sales are expected to slow down, and Rivian is facing pressure from investors to demonstrate a plan that can compete with Tesla and other autonomous vehicle giants.
Despite efforts to control costs and advance software development through a $5 billion partnership with Volkswagen, the company still incurs billions in losses annually. Earlier this year, Rivian achieved positive gross profit for the first time, seen as an important milestone toward profitability.
The launch of the Autonomy Plus subscription service marks Rivian's move to follow competitors like Tesla by creating recurring revenue through software subscriptions. This model not only improves cash flow but also helps establish a differentiated advantage in the fierce competition in the electric vehicle market.
