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Senior reporter Sean O’Kane popped over to Palo Alto to check out Rivian’s Autonomy & AI Day, which some insiders told us would be the company’s most important event. I’m not sure I would categorize it as such, but how about I let the journalist on the ground give his assessment?
Via Sean (and a few of my thoughts sprinkled in) after the event …
It was easy to get lost in the buzz words at times during Rivian’s “Autonomy & AI Day” this week. But there was a clear underlying message being shared: Rivian is trying to build a company that is about more than just selling cars.
It’s not going as far as Tesla. For instance, there were no humanoid robots wandering around the company’s Palo Alto campus.
But it is clearly building out other revenue-generating products — and advanced driver assistance is at the starting gates.
Rivian’s hands-free version of its driver-assistance software — which today can be used on about 135,000 miles of road — will expand to 3.5 million miles and include surface streets. This expanded capability, which will launch in early 2026 and eventually include point-to-point hands-free (but eyes on) automated driving comes with a cost of $2,500 or $49.99 per month.
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Then there is its future hands-off, eyes-off system. Rivian revealed it has developed its own custom 5nm processor, which it says will be built in collaboration with both Arm and TSMC. That chip will power Rivian’s “autonomy computer” — the backbone of an upgraded automated-driving system —that will debut in the R2 SUV in late 2026.
That will probably be an upcharge, although Rivian didn’t say if it would be more than the $2,500 fee.
But there’s another scenario we should also consider: licensing its tech to others.
After all, Rivian already has a joint venture with Volkswagen Group to share its electrical architecture and base-level software. And Rivian spun out two startups this year with Also (mobility) and Mind Robotics (industrial AI and robotics).
Barclays’ Dan Levy wrote Friday that “subsequent discussions reiterated hopes/potential” for Rivian to license its whole AV platform, or just components like the customs processor. And when I asked CEO RJ Scaringe if Rivian will sell the processor to Mind Robotics, he responded wryly: “It doesn’t take a lot of imagination.”
At the most abstracted level, bolting new revenue lines to the existing car business (especially if those new projects play nice with the cars) makes sense. Who doesn’t love more money?
Here’s our coverage of the event:
Rivian is building its own AI assistant (deeper dive into the tech). And it is coming to its EVs in early 2026.
Rivian goes big on autonomy with custom silicon, lidar, and a hint at robotaxis
A little bird
Nothing this week — or should I say, thanks for the tips, everyone, but there is nothing I can share yet.
In the meantime, here’s a tiny tidbit to hold you over. As you read above, senior reporter Sean O’Kane was at Rivian’s AI & Autonomy Day and one of the whispers he heard was about the company’s public demo of its AI assistant and concerns it might not work. Apparently, the testing the morning of the event was a bit touch and go.
Alas, the public demo went just fine after one tense moment at the start. The risks are high for public demos, which is why many companies avoid them. Kudos to Rivian for going for it.
Got a tip for us? Email Kirsten Korosec at kirsten.korosec@techcrunch.com or my Signal at kkorosec.07, or email Sean O’Kane at sean.okane@techcrunch.com.
Deals!
At the start of 2025, I didn’t think TechCrunch would publish an aviation-startup-meets-data-center story. But here we are.
Aircraft startup Boom Supersonic kicked off 2025 by breaking the sound barrier with its XB-1 demonstrator civil aircraft. And it’s ending the year with a plan to sell a version of its turbine engine as a stationary power plant. Its first customer will be data center startup Crusoe.
Under the deal, Crusoe will buy 29 of Boom’s 42-megawatt turbines for $1.25 billion to generate 1.21 gigawatts for its data centers.
Boom has raised $300 million to help commercialize this new business. The round was led by Darsana Capital Partners with participation from Altimeter Capital, Ark Invest, Bessemer Venture Partners, Robinhood Ventures, and Y Combinator.
The plan is to use money from its Superpower stationary turbine business to fund the development of its supersonic aircraft.
Other deals that got my attention …
Self-driving trucks company Aurora Innovation made a commercial agreement with Detmar Logistics to autonomously transport frac sand in the Permian Basin.
Some deals don’t always work out, or they change. Take SK On and Ford, for instance.
Four years ago, Ford and South Korean battery maker SK On struck a deal to form a joint venture and spend $11.4 billion to build factories in Tennessee and Kentucky that would produce batteries for the next generation of electric F-Series trucks. Now the joint venture is ending and the two companies will divide the assets: Ford will take ownership and operation of the twin battery plants in Kentucky, while SK On will operate the factory at the massive BlueOval SK campus in Tennessee.
Vatn Systems, a Rhode Island-based startup developing autonomous underwater vehicles, raised $60 million in a Series A funding round led by BVVC.
Notable reads and other tidbits
700Credit, a company that runs credit checks and identity verification services for auto dealerships across the United States, said a data breach affected at least 5.6 million people who had their names, addresses, dates of birth, and Social Security numbers stolen.
The former CEO of bankrupt EV startup Canoo had pledged to provide support to NASA and the United States Postal Service so it could continue to use the vans. Apparently, that wasn’t a convincing argument; NASA and USPS have stopped using them.
Ford and Renault agreed to work together to bring two affordable Ford-branded vehicles to the European market in 2028. Ford will lead the design and Renault will assemble the vehicles at its factory in northern France.
Lucid is being sued by its former chief engineer Eric Bach, who alleges wrongful termination, discrimination, and retaliation. Bach, who is of German heritage, also claims one of the automaker’s top HR executives referred to him as a “German Nazi.”
Subaru unveiled its Uncharted EV and the specs might attract buyers. The Uncharted Premium trim EV will have a 300-mile range and be priced a skosh above $36,000. Potential deal killer among Subie diehards? The Premium version is front-wheel drive only.
A pregnant woman in San Francisco gave birth inside a Waymo robotaxi en route to UCSF Medical Center. And nope, this is not the first baby born in a Waymo. Read on to learn more.
Meanwhile on the Waymo news front, a leaked letter from Tiger Global Management to its investors disclosed that Waymo is now providing 450,000 robotaxi rides per week — nearly double the amount it disclosed this spring. Waymo declined to comment.
Zevo wants to add robotaxis to its car-share fleet, starting with newcomer Tensor. Senior reporter Sean O’Kane digs in.
One more thing …
I asked and you answered. Thanks to all the readers who participated in the last poll. As a reminder, I asked: The pace of autonomous vehicle development has quickened, prompting more scrutiny and questions around safety and accountability. Should companies stay the course, scale faster, or tap the brakes?
About 48% of you picked “stay the course.” Nearly 23% chose scale faster, while 29.4% of readers want companies to tap the brakes.
