If you have a Venn diagram of drivers who want adventure-focused cars with off-road capabilities on one side and drivers who want self-driving, software-centric, computer-first cars on the other, is there much overlap between the two circles?
Rivian bets on that.
On Thursday, Rivian hosted an “Autonomy and AI Day” at its research and development site in Palo Alto, where hundreds of people witnessed the EV maker's big leap into the future: a highly integrated AI assistant and full self-driving capabilities, all powered by Rivian's proprietary silicon chips.
Wassym Bensaid, Rivian's chief software officer, called the move “a significant platform change that will transform our products and everything we do at our company.”
Bensaid is one of the key executives leading Rivian's AI-defined vehicle drive, along with James Philbin, vice president of autonomy and AI, and Vidya Rajagopalan, senior vice president of Rivian electrical hardware.
During the event, I had a chance to talk to Benside and Philbin about this pivot and whether it makes sense for a company that has championed its brand as a vehicle for adventure since its inception, or whether it's simply a response to consumer demand.
For them, it's a combination of both.
Autonomy, “key purchasing driver”
Philbin, who served on the boards of Zoox and Waymo before joining Rivian in 2022, said the pursuit of autonomy was not an overnight decision and had been part of the company's trajectory for a long time.
Meanwhile, Philbin sees a “tide” of consumer demand for some degree of autonomy, especially as robotaxis become mainstream.
“We're starting to see that for customers, especially those who are purchasing vehicles with perhaps high levels of autonomy, autonomy is very important in their purchasing decisions,” he said. “They're not coming back.”
Philbin said the high level of advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) is listed as one of Rivian's customers' “top three reasons for purchase.” But demand will spread across all automakers, he said.
“I see this as a big driver of car purchases going forward,” Philbin said. “And I think all OEMs need to provide these capabilities to their customers in some way.”
Cars is an AI “killer app”
A year ago, Benside told me that cars of the future would be hands-free, and using buttons or fiddling with touchscreens would be “abnormal.”
“It's a bug, not a feature,” he said at the time. “Ideally, you would want to interact with your car through voice. And the problem today is that most voice assistants are simply broken.”
Thursday's demonstration of Rivian Assistant, an in-vehicle AI assistant that can control specific vehicle functions, brought Bensaid's vision to life. We saw the Rivian Assistant pull out navigation instructions and control the direction of the vents through voice control.
“Cars and cars are probably the killer app for AI,” Benside said at the event.
“With a daily 30- to 45-minute commute, you want your time back and you want to have more control over your time,” he said.
When I asked the software chief where there was overlap between Rivian's adventure brand and its AI push, Benside said the company is “inspiring different kinds of customers.”
“I think at the core of the brand, Rivian wants people to explore the world,” he said, adding there are many ways to do that, whether it’s off-roading or exploring the world through technology.
At the same time, Benside said, “We are a technology company at heart, so technology is a huge part of the user experience, how we see ourselves and how we present ourselves to the world.”
Beyond Rivian
Bensaid's statement touches on another key focus beyond the automaker's lineup of luxury trucks and SUVs: software licensing.
Rivian's joint venture with German auto giant Volkswagen was a clear signal of the company's intention to license its software platform to other automakers in the future.
Steve Mann, senior auto analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence, said part of the technology will include self-driving capabilities, which the entire auto industry, including traditional automakers and startups, is exploring.
“At the end of the day, we don't really know if we're going to see large-scale mass adoption,” Mann said of autonomy. Still, the analyst added that it's a “must” for automakers to pursue it.
Sales of Tesla's fully self-driving surveillance vehicle reflect that uncertainty. Tesla Chief Financial Officer Vaibhav Taneja said in October that CEO Elon Musk cited FSD as a key driver of the company's valuation, even though FSD adoption remains at about 12%.
The auto industry remains bullish on autonomous driving and AI.
Nissan has partnered with UK-based Wave, which develops software for advanced driver assistance systems. General Motors has hinted at plans for an eyes-off driving system in 2028. And Mercedes introduced hands-off, eyes-off ADAS a few years ago.
A recent report from Bloomberg Intelligence found that nearly half of automotive executives surveyed expect AI to increase sales and profits by 9% over the next two to three years.
“From a business perspective, we don't know if it's going to take off, but we need to invest money now to keep up. And if that's what people want, there's an opportunity to roll it out,” Mann said.
