Rivian: LiDAR R2 reaches customers in 2027, employees get it this year

This is car and self-driving news, not a home energy story, so it has no direct bearing on your house or any efficiency upgrade. Still, here's what happened: Rivian, the electric vehicle maker, said its next autonomous-driving hardware is running behind its original schedule. The company had promised LiDAR (a laser sensor system used for self-driving) and a new in-house computer chip on its R2 model by "late 2026." That hardware is now going to Rivian employees first this year, with paying customers not getting it until sometime in 2027, a date the company hasn't pinned down.

Separately, Rivian said its point-to-point driving feature, a competitor to Tesla's self-driving software, doesn't need the new hardware and will start rolling out to early-adopter owners of current R1 vehicles by the end of this year, reaching its full fleet sometime next year. That feature costs $2,500 upfront or about $50 a month, though it comes free with the R2 Launch Edition. Rivian also said the LiDAR hardware itself now costs only a few hundred dollars per vehicle, down from thousands of dollars in past years.

Finally, Rivian confirmed its robotaxi partnership with Uber is still on track, with a service target of late 2028 and another $250 million payment expected this quarter.