Rivian Launches New Website: Updated Prices, Launch Edition, Timing, Colors and More!

[Fenwayfan77]

According to Rivian's website the R1T (truck) you can configure with the large battery but have to wait. The S you won't be able to right away, or am I reading this wrong?:
BATTERY SELECTION
At launch, every R1T and R1S comes with our 300+ mile pack. We are leading with this pack based on its optimal balance of range, performance and price.
For R1T, our 400+ mile pack will be available starting in January 2022. Initially, the R1S will only be available with our 300+ mile pack. A longer range R1S with both five- and seven-passenger seating will be announced following start of production. We will also announce our 250+ mile range, lower priced R1T and R1S at that time.

Ha. Please refer to my post, #324, for additional clarity, or should I say, a lack thereof?

Sponsored

 

[skyote]

Perhaps Rivian should consider a special "trade up" incentive to get us in the 135 now and replace with the 180 when it becomes available. They could use some of those trade-ins to populate a service loaner fleet and possibly an adventure destination rental fleet.

That's an excellent idea, you should find a way to get it to someone with authority at Rivian. Also, RJ has mentioned a potential subscription/shared option, and they obviously wouldn't need brand new vehicles for that program.

 

[sevengroove]

Yes, I agree. Bad news. I guess I was thinking that I would spec out my R1T now, then once the 180 becomes available I'd just switch to that before delivery and keep my place in line. Hmmm...

The way I see it, there are different queues:

1. The Launch Edition queue (June 2021)
2. The standard 135kwh queue (Jan 2022, both Adventure and Explore packages)
3. The 180kwh variant queue (?? 2022)
4. The smaller battery queue (?? 2022)

So spec'ing out your R1T and getting in the LE queue wouldn't really give you any additional advantage over your existing pre-order date priority if you eventually want to be in the 180kwh queue. And whenever they open that one up I imagine you'll still get to use your pre-order priority to place yourself accordingly.

 

[timesinks]

The way I see it, there are different queues:

1. The Launch Edition queue (June 2021)
2. The standard 135kwh queue (Jan 2022, both Adventure and Explore packages)
3. The 180kwh variant queue (?? 2022)
4. The smaller battery queue (?? 2022)

So spec'ing out your R1T and getting in the LE queue wouldn't really give you any additional advantage over your existing pre-order date priority if you eventually want to be in the 180kwh queue. And whenever they open that one up I imagine you'll still get to use your pre-order priority to place yourself accordingly.

The Jan 2022 queue looks like it includes the 180kWh variant of the R1T as well -- just not the R1S:
"For R1T, our 400+ mile pack will be available starting in January 2022. Initially, the R1S will only be available with our 300+ mile pack." The only R1T that won't be shipping in January 2022 is the 105kWh variant.

 

[SlaterGS]

Perhaps Rivian should consider a special "trade up" incentive to get us in the 135 now and replace with the 180 when it becomes available. They could use some of those trade-ins to populate a service loaner fleet and possibly an adventure destination rental fleet.

I love this idea.

I might go with the 135 if there is no timeline given with the configurator for the 180, however it still depends on the interior.
I don't feel like I have a good handle yet on the storage capacity in the back, or the legroom for the 3rd row, or how the 2nd row moves to allow people in/out. This is key with car seats. If it ultimately can't handle car seats in the second row well while allowing people into the back, then I may have to wait for whoever comes out with a 3 row suv with captain seats. Crossing my fingers that Rivian can still tick these boxes and I would be OKAY going with the 135.

 

[ElectricDan]

Why is this so upsetting to people? Is it because Lidar is sexy and unique? It seems like it's unique because nobody is using it because everyone is realizing they can meet the actual user requirement without it. Lidar isn't a requirement. Being able to reliably perceive the world in order to drive the truck is the requirement. If they can deliver on that, I don't really care which final suite of sensors they landed on.

I'm not an engineer or a software guy, but I have a lot of interest in vehicle autonomy so I consume as much information on the topic as possible. From what I've discovered, most of the Tesla fan's believe a camera, radar, ultrasound sensor fusion will provide necessary data and compute to solve this. However, all the other big players like waymo, zoox, aptiv, cruise, and uber all believe lidar is absolutely crucial.

This, in part, is why I was so excited that rivian also believed the lidae route was the best move. I feel like giving up on lidar also equates to giving up on autonomy and really just accepting this as an ADAS platform.

 

[Sully151]

It’s funny, LIDAR, RADAD, full self driving etc. doesn’t really mean much to me. I still like to drive my vehicles, even on long road trips.

Not knowing when the 180kwh R1S is coming out is a real bummer.

I could live with 300 miles of range 90% of the time, especially if it gets anywhere near 300 miles but, the other 10% of the time it would be nice to have more range.

That being said, I am considering changing my order to the R1T. Just not sure it will have room for my wife, 2 kids, and Australian Shepherd, even though we make it work in a Subaru Crosstrek.

 

[craptacular]

I'm not an engineer or a software guy, but I have a lot of interest in vehicle autonomy so I consume as much information on the topic as possible. From what I've discovered, most of the Tesla fan's believe a camera, radar, ultrasound sensor fusion will provide necessary data and compute to solve this. However, all the other big players like waymo, zoox, aptiv, cruise, and uber all believe lidar is absolutely crucial.

This, in part, is why I was so excited that rivian also believed the lidae route was the best move. I feel like giving up on lidar also equates to giving up on autonomy and really just accepting this as an ADAS platform.

Maybe some of the Rivian hires who previously worked at Tesla convinced RJ Lidar wasn’t necessary...
At some point I’d like to hear RJ’s take on the subject.

 

[ElectricDan]

Right. More like level 2 or 2+. Just like they have said from the very beginning. Level 3 will roll-out later, after more data has been collected from the "fleet".

I recall reading that they were gonna launch with level 3 autonomy, with a path to level 4. They made the claim they would be level 3 out the door, not level 2 until they obtain enough data. And I understand that they need some real world data to test edge case redundancy decision making with the NN, but that's more of a difference for level 3 to level 4. Ill make the statement now: rivian will never become a level 4 system with the sensor suite they have now, no matter how many OTA updates you get or data they collect. I doubt their chip has the compute power necessary and it certainly doesn't have the sensors to offer redundancy.

 

[godfodder0901]

I recall reading that they were gonna launch with level 3 autonomy, with a path to level 4. They made the claim they would be level 3 out the door, not level 2 until they obtain enough data. And I understand that they need some real world data to test edge case redundancy decision making with the NN, but that's more of a difference for level 3 to level 4. Ill make the statement now: rivian will never become a level 4 system with the sensor suite they have now, no matter how many OTA updates you get or data they collect. I doubt their chip has the compute power necessary and it certainly doesn't have the sensors to offer redundancy.

It was always level 2, with 3 to follow, AFAIK. And there isn't a provider that currently exists that is level 4 capable.

 

[thrill]

I recall reading that they were gonna launch with level 3 autonomy, with a path to level 4. They made the claim they would be level 3 out the door, not level 2 until they obtain enough data. And I understand that they need some real world data to test edge case redundancy decision making with the NN, but that's more of a difference for level 3 to level 4. Ill make the statement now: rivian will never become a level 4 system with the sensor suite they have now, no matter how many OTA updates you get or data they collect. I doubt their chip has the compute power necessary and it certainly doesn't have the sensors to offer redundancy.

LIDAR does give remarkably precise resolution. In many cases the system can tell which way a person on the side of the road is looking, and with a short history the system can predict someone is about to step out in front of you or that bouncing ball likely has a child two seconds in trail.

That said, launching with the equivalent of Super Cruise is ok I think - that's pretty much the cutting edge of capability except for very specialized efforts such as Waymo's project in Phoenix. The hope I have now is that LIDAR sensors (down from several thousand to about $500 each now) and the additional compute power to manage and make decisions of that higher resolution data is something easily added later.

I'd always assumed that LIDAR resolution would be needed for autonomous off-road driving - there were examples given (I think) by Rivian about driving to a trailhead and then having the vehicle meet hikers at the other end. Maybe RADAR is sufficient for that, or maybe that's for later, or maybe reality bites again and it's basically never.

Having a solid engineering discussion from the Rivian team about driving autonomy and retrofitting would be greatly (immensely, vastly) appreciated by those of us who were all keen on the production LIDAR.

 

[ElectricDan]

It was always level 2, with 3 to follow, AFAIK. And there isn't a provider that currently exists that is level 4 capable.

Waymo has had lo volume level 4 platforms in Arizona for years, and they recently added to Boston as well. They have over 10s of millions of miles driven with no safety driver in these vehicles... and yes they use Lidar. We can argue about whether or not they could have reached level 3 or level 4 with either sensor package, but there is no argument in them saying they will launch level 3 capable with Lidar... that was a statement by rivian, which they will no longer deliver on.

 

[godfodder0901]

Waymo has had lo volume level 4 platforms in Arizona for years, and they recently added to Boston as well. They have over 10s of millions of miles driven with no safety driver in these vehicles... and yes they use Lidar. We can argue about whether or not they could have reached level 3 or level 4 with either sensor package, but there is no argument in them saying they will launch level 3 capable with Lidar... that was a statement by rivian, which they will no longer deliver on.

Arguments about true level 4 (not just limited testing), Rivian never said that would launch with level 3. They have always said level 2, and then upgrade to level 3. They have always said, however, that they will launch with 'level 3 capable hardware', and that is still the case in their estimation.

 

[Canthoney]

Arguments about true level 4 (not just limited testing), Rivian never said that would launch with level 3. They have always said level 2, and then upgrade to level 3. They have always said, however, that they will launch with 'level 3 capable hardware', and that is still the case in their estimation.

Yeah, plus we are in uncharted territory in terms of the technology. I’ll just be happy if it doesn’t wreck me into the back of another car/semi like another unnamed auto maker

 

[GIJoe]

Having scanned numerous threads I don’t see anything about privacy tint for the rear windows in the R1S. Anyone with Info? Also does anyone know if they will add weather/radar to the Navi system? Saw an interesting icon on one of their videos.

Sponsored