Rivian unveils custom silicon autonomy platform

Rivian (RIVN) announced “significant breakthroughs” in vertically integrated automotive technology at its first Autonomy & AI Day. During the event at its Palo Alto offices, the company unveiled its proprietary, purpose-built silicon, outlined its roadmap for next-generation vehicle autonomy, and introduced an evolved software architecture underpinned by artificial intelligence. At the core of Rivian’s technology roadmap is the transition to in-house silicon, designed specifically for the vision-centric physical AI. The first generation Rivian Autonomy Processor is a custom 5nm processor that integrates processing and memory onto a single multi-chip module, the company says. In addition to ACM3, Rivian plans to integrate LiDAR into future R2 models. The company introduced its Large Driving Model, a foundational autonomous model trained like a Large Language Model. Utilizing Group-Relative Policy Optimization, the LDM will distill driving strategies from massive datasets into the vehicle. Rivian announced its autonomy subscription, Autonomy+, with continuously expanding capabilities, launching in early 2026 and priced at $2,500 (one-time) or $49.99 (per month). Rivian also detailed plans to continuously improve the autonomy capabilities of its Gen 2 R1 and future R2 vehicles, with a clear trajectory including point-to-point, eyes off and personal L4. Rivian is harnessing AI across the business with the Rivian Unified Intelligence, the company added. The shared, multi-modal and multi-LLM data foundation is helping the company develop new features, improve service infrastructure, and even power predictive maintenance.