If there were a Venn diagram of a driver who wants an adventure-focused car with off-roading capability on one side and a driver who wants a software-centric, computer-first car that could drive itself on the other, would there be a lot of overlap between the two circles?
Rivian’s betting yes.
On Thursday, Rivian hosted an “Autonomy & AI Day” at the company’s research and development hub in Palo Alto, where hundreds witnessed the EV maker’s grand leap into the future: a highly integrated AI assistant and fully autonomous driving capability, all powered by Rivian’s very own silicon chip.
Wassym Bensaid, Rivian’s Chief Software Officer, called the move a “profound platform shift which changes our product and everything we do at the company.”
Bensaid is among the key executives leading the charge toward Rivian’s “AI-defined vehicle,” along with James Philbin, VP of Autonomy & AI, and Vidya Rajagopalan, Senior VP of Rivian’s electrical hardware division.
During the event, I had the chance to talk to Bensaid and Philbin about the pivot and whether it makes sense for a company that, since its inception, has branded itself as an adventure-forward vehicle, or if this is just a response to consumer demand.
To them, it’s a bit of both.
Autonomy, a ‘key purchase driver’
Philbin, who was a director at Zoox and Waymo before joining Rivian in 2022, told me that pursuing autonomy has long been part of the company’s trajectory rather than an overnight decision.
On the other side of the coin, Philbin sees a rising “tide” in consumer demand for some level of autonomy — especially as robotaxis become mainstream.
“We are starting to see that autonomy is a really important purchase decision with customers, and especially customers who come from vehicles with maybe high levels of autonomy,” he said. “They don’t go back.”
Philbin said that having a high-level advanced driver assistance system (ADAS) was cited as one of the “top three purchase reasons” for Rivian customers. However, the demand will extend to all automakers, he said.
“I just see it becoming such a key purchase driver for vehicles going forward,” Philbin said. “And I think every OEM will have to deliver these features to customers in some way.”
Cars, the ‘killer app’ for AI
A year ago, Bensaid told me that the future of cars would be hands-free, and that using buttons or fiddling with the touchscreen would be “an anomaly.”
“It’s a bug, it’s 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 just broken.”
Thursday’s demonstration of the Rivian Assistant, an in-car AI assistant that can control certain vehicle functions, brought Bensaid’s vision to life. I saw the Rivian Assistant pull up navigation directions and control the direction of the air vents through voice control.
Bensaid told me at the event that “cars and automotive are probably the killer app for AI.”
“In your 30-minute or 45-minute commute every day, you want to get your time back, you want to really take control of your time,” he said.
When I asked the software chief where the overlap was between Rivian’s adventure brand and its AI push, Bensaid said the company “inspires many types of customers.”
“I think at the core of the brand, Rivian wants people to explore the world,” he said, and that there were different ways to do so, whether that’s by going off-road or exploring the world through technology.
At the same time, Bensaid said, “At heart, we are a technology company, so technology is really a big part of the user experience, how we see ourselves, and how we present ourselves to the world.”
Beyond Rivian
Bensaid’s statement touches upon another key focus beyond the automaker’s line-up of premium trucks and SUVs: software licensing.
Rivian’s joint venture with the German automotive giant Volkswagen was a clear sign of its intent to license its software platform to other automakers in the future.
Part of the tech will include self-driving capabilities, which the entire automotive world — legacy and startup — is exploring, Steve Man, senior auto analyst for Bloomberg Intelligence, told me.
“We don’t really know at the end of the day if there’s going to be a huge mass adoption,” Man said of autonomy. Still, the analyst adds that “it’s a must” for car makers to pursue.
Sales of Tesla’s Full Self-Driving Supervised reflect that uncertainty. CEO Elon Musk has presented FSD as the key driver of the company’s valuation even though the adoption rate of FSD remains at around 12%, Vaibhav Taneja, Tesla’s Chief Financial Officer, said in October.
The automotive industry still remains bullish on autonomy and AI.
Nissan partnered with UK-based Wayve, which develops software for advanced driver assistance systems. General Motors teased plans for an eyes-off driving system for 2028. And Mercedes unveiled a hands-off, eyes-off ADAS a few years ago.
A recent Bloomberg Intelligence report said that nearly half of C-suite auto executives surveyed said they expect AI to lift sales and profits by 9% over the next two to three years.
“From a business perspective, you don’t know if it is going to take off, but you need to invest some money now so that you’re not behind,” Man said, “and you have the opportunity to roll it out if it is something that people want.”
