You Won't Be Able To Buy A Rivian R2 With Lidar This Year After All

Rivian still plans to launch its new autonomy computer and lidar this year. But you won't be able to buy it.

Rivian R2 Customer Orders Hero

Photo by: Rivian

Rob Stumpf

By: Rob Stumpf

Sep 30, at 2:24pm ET

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Rivian's latest autonomy hardware is still planned to launch this year—you just won't be able to buy it.
The company revealed that it plans to release lidar and its new in-house computer for employees.
Regular buyers will see the hardware in consumer cars starting in 2027.

If you've been waiting to pull the trigger on a new Rivian R2 over its soon-to-be-upgraded autonomy computer and sensor suite, you might be waiting a bit longer than expected.

Rivian still plans to put its new in-house silicon (called RAP1) and lidar sensor in the newly launched R2 before the end of the year. However, it turns out that there's a little asterisk attached to that sentence. Those first cars will be going to employees, not public reservation holders.

Rivian R2 Coastal Cloud Signature interior

Photo by: Rivian

The automaker's VP of Investor Relations, Chip Newcom, revealed the company's plans for its autonomy hardware while speaking at Evercore's ADAS, AV, and AI Forum on Tuesday.

He clarified how Rivian plans to roll out its latest and greatest autonomy tech:

For employees, the plan is to start rolling out [RAP1]—so our third-generation computer plus the LIDAR—to go into the vehicle later this year for employees, and then start rolling that out to customers next year.

That's a little bit different than how CEO RJ Scaringe sold the timeline. Scaringe held that the its new Gen 3 autonomy platform (which includes the new compute, long-range lidar, five radar sensors, and 11 cameras) would arrive "starting in late 2026," which is a bit of a murky outlook. Officially, this is the first time that Rivian has provided clarification on that timeline. And while it's still technically true that the platform is getting an upgrade this year, Newcom's comments reveal that the 2026 launch only includes cars purchased by Rivian employees.

In July, Rivian told InsideEVs that RAP1 and lidar would not be offered with the R2's Launch Package, and that the Launch Package would only be available for 2027 vehicles. We asked Rivian if that meant the new hardware meant waiting for the 2028 model to launch, however, the automaker did not respond to any of our follow-up emails at that time.

Rivian also did not respond to a request from InsideEVs to clarify Newcom's new public timeline.

Autonomy-savvy consumer have viewed this as a substantial upgrade to the car's future autonomy capability, despite Rivian saying that the effects wouldn't be felt for several years. And for many Musk expats coming to Rivian R2 from a car equipped with Tesla's doomed Hardware 3, the small time between when deliveries started in June and the end of the year was was enough to justify the wait.

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It's clear that Rivian wants to play its launches safe. The R2 is arguably its most important product launch to-date, directly taking on the Tesla Model Y. And with autonomy being on the forefront of many buyers' minds, it needs to make sure that the expansion of R2 equipped with its latest tech will go smoothly.

So, sure, if you want to wait for lidar before buying R2, you might be in line for a bit longer than expected. But if today's version of Rivian's hands-free driving is good enough for you, why wait?

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