u/Acrobatic-Flan-5085

I encourage everyone to listen to the attached link for yourself, but here is some of the most interesting bits I took away from the talk today

No mention of UHF 2.0 anymore. I assume that since it never appeared in official press releases, stoplights and stop signs that were discussed for Q3 is now simply all being rolled into point to point.

“Very much on track” for point to point
“Initial rollout” end of the year.

Some more detail about what this initial rollout looks like:
- Begin rollout to early adopter customers end of this year.
-Continue expanding into next year.
-Full widespread rollout across all vehicles expected next year

Probably some features will remain out of operational domain in first version “such as parking lots.”

After point to point, the big focus on uber taxi, to fully driverless. Dependent on improved disengagement rates

Model is end to end, with domain specific fine tuning. Some of this is being built in expert fleet deployments happening already in initial cities of San Fran, Chicago and Miami.

Rap 1 chips will have priority into r2 later this year for employees, then to customers’ deliveries next year. (Makes sense given the chip validation timetable - there won’t be that many chips available in Dec to deliver and that shouldn’t hold back R2 ramp).

Focus for the autonomy stack is not on boring highway models - but in interesting edge cases. Beginning next year they expect to be increasingly leaning into large scale simulation for both measurement and improvement

Eyes off has big regulatory burden because US is a patchwork. For example - NY state there is no level 3 eyes off pathway.

Level 4 service goal remains late 2028

Uber or fleet partner will purchase the L4 vehicle, but then Rivian will get a software license fee tied to the utilization of the robotaxi, as it’s the Rivian model driving the car.

Robotaxi to come before personal L4, because there will be more domain constraints with that taxi. But it’s mostly the same work so the personal L4 release should be very close after robotaxi.

Nothing in the Uber relationship constrains the ability to monetize personal level 4.

For now, the focus with R2 ramp is on quality in order to make sure customers are very very happy. Then they can start pushing Rivian brand visibility.

Autonomy is separate from the agreement with VW - but Rivian is open to working with other OEMs. The autonomy stack can be tuned for different vehicles and sensors

Autonomy SVP James Philbin will be speaking at this event on autonomous vehicles. Hopefully there is some new updates. He will almost certainly be asked about Q3 milestones and anything remaining before point to point comes out

For those worried about recent range comparisons. From around the 5:30 mark:

“In our road trip range test, we found that you could expect to go 263 miles per charge if you drive at 70mph. That’s a similar result to what we recorded while testing Model Y Long Range AWD, which is rated at 311 miles by the EPA, but traveled 252 miles during our road trip evaluation.”

First video I’ve seen of UHF in the latest update.

As a bonus, it’s in a HUGE downpour and the system does really well.

The traffic light visualization is in the dash. I zoomed in and as far as I can see it performed perfectly, even in this extremely heavy rain, detecting all signals and correctly identifying if they were red or green.

Kyle right around the 17 minute mark:

“By the way, both cars are fantastic… our entire team would choose the Rivian R2 over the Model Y because we just like it so much more. It’s a more attractive shape. It’s a better looking car. It’s got really good interior. It has really nice amenities, things that we really appreciate.

And if it had FSD, it would be kind of the end-all choice.”

That’s exactly my feeling on the R2, and why I’m really excited for the point to point release.

Incidentally, RJ did confirm on the investor call that there will be another Autonomy Day event this year, and everything remains on track. So I would guess point to point will start rolling out in the December update.

Also from an interview last month, it looks like UHF 2.0 will be coming this quarter, including stop sign and traffic light handling. I do not believe the vehicle will turn at intersections, just stop and then go when clear.

As important as the R2 launch has been, I think the next 5 months of updates are going to be just as important.

Efficiency dropped considerably once he got to Montana, where speeds are 80-85. He said it was “considerably better” in Colorado.

“Just as fun to road trip, if not maybe a bit more fun to road trip then a Tesla”

He wants to trade in his model y for one. But he does say FSD is obviously much better in the Tesla.

Nice to see what it’s like to really road trip with this thing.

Another banger from Tom.

Even more relevant given the real world range tests we’ve seen coming out.

80% added in approx 29 minutes
11 more minutes to go from 80% to 90% (only about 2 miles of range per minute)
Above 90% is very slow, another 11 minutes to go from 90 to 95

And 46 min more minutes to go from 95-100. Basically never do this at a fast charger unless you absolutely have to.