Rivian May Build Its Own Lidar Sensor For The R2 In The U.S.

Rivian CEO RJ Scaringe said the company is considering partnering with a Chinese company.

Rivian R2 LIDAR

Photo by: Rivian

Iulian Dnistran

By: Iulian Dnistran

May 6, at 3:34am ET

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Rivian is considering making its own lidar sensors for future R2 versions.
CEO RJ Scaringe said a partnership with a Chinese company is possible.
A lidar sensor can create detailed images of a car’s surroundings, boosting automated driving capabilities.

Rivian may manufacture its own lidar sensors in the United States, CEO RJ Scaringe told Reuters in an interview yesterday. If the plan works, the R2 mid-size electric SUV will become the first mass-market American EV fitted with a lidar sensor manufactured domestically.

The California EV startup’s head honcho added that Rivian is mulling manufacturing lidar sensors in-house using Chinese technology, possibly through a joint venture, instead of buying ready-made sensors from China. Scaringe didn’t name names, but said that Rivian is in “active discussions” with solid-state lidar manufacturers.

Rivian said it will start selling lidar-equipped R2 EVs in late 2026.

Photo by: Rivian

"Think ‌of ⁠it as finding a way to structurally ingest the technology," said Scaringe. "The advancements in terms of going from the early lidars that I think a lot of us have seen—we see them here—to these much more advanced solid-state lidars, those advancements didn't happen in the United States. Those advancements happened in China."

Many experts believe that lidar sensors are essential for achieving true autonomous driving, as they create a detailed three-dimensional map of the vehicle’s surroundings. Last year, Rivian made headlines, announcing that the R2 mid-size electric SUV would be fitted with a lidar sensor from the factory. The demonstration cars had a static, roof-mounted lidar sensor that’s much smaller than the rotating units found on Waymo’s robotaxis.

In the meantime, we learned that the first R2s rolling off the production line are not fitted with the technology, as Rivian wanted to kick off production of the mid-size SUV as soon as possible. As a result, the initial R2 batches are based on “an elevated version of the Gen2 architecture” that underpins the latest R1S and R1T, and come from the factory with the brand’s improved 65-megapixel HDR camera system and enhanced dual-mode corner radar.

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That should be enough for hands-free driving, but Rivian is betting big on eyes-off driving, and here’s where the lidar sensor comes into play, along with the company’s first custom chip, the Rivian Autonomy Processor 1, or RAP-1.

The EV maker said the first lidar-equipped R2 SUVs will roll off the assembly line in late 2026. Older R2s that were not fitted with lidar will not be eligible for a hardware upgrade, Rivian confirmed for InsideEVs last year.

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