Electric car company Rivian plans to emphasise artificial intelligence and more affordable vehicles amid repeated losses and weakness in its share price.
The company will host its first Autonomy and AI Day for investors tomorrow, where it could unveil its reported new AI assistant. It is also set to start production on its R2 SUV, which will be its cheapest vehicle.
Rivian hopes for its EVs to be increasingly autonomous, according to CEO RJ Scaringe. “You can own a car, but it can drop you at the airport, it can pick your kids up from school, it can go get things from the store for you.”
“We want all that to happen behind the scenes and all that to be powered through AI.”
Rivian does not currently produce self-driving cars. Its chief software officer, Wassym Bensaid, said last year that it would target incremental experience improvements powered by AI rather than full self-driving abilities.
It has been developing an AI assistant that it will integrate into its vehicles, TechCrunch reported.
Rivian’s new US$45,000 R2 will launch in 2026, the company said. This will follow fellow EV maker Tesla, which revealed low-cost models of its Model 3 and Model Y cars in October.
The company posted its first-ever gross profit in 2024’s fourth quarter as Volkswagen and Rivian ramped up their joint venture. Rivian swung back to a loss in 2025’s second quarter, however, before reporting just $24 million in profit in Q3.
Rivian’s shares are down 86.5% from their initial public offering in 2021 and have been volatile throughout 2025.
The United States also ended its $7,500 tax credit for electric car buyers in September. EV purchases spiked ahead of its expiry, but were more than 40% lower year-over-year in November.
Rivian’s (NASDAQ: RIVN) share price closed at $17.50, down from its previous close at $17.71. Its market capitalisation is $21.45 billion.
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