Rivian has extended the free trial of its Autonomy+ service for the third time, as the company prepares to include its Universal Hands-Free feature in the bundle.
According to an email sent to customers on Tuesday, Rivian owners have access to an extended free-trial of the Autonomy+ software, as the company extends the 60-day offer for new customers.
“Just like all new R1S and R1T now come with a 60-day trial of Autonomy+, your vehicle will include all Autonomy+ features through April 4,” it said.
Universal Hands-free and “other assistive features” announced in December will become part of the Autonomy+ suite, for which customers are expected to pay from April onward.
The news came two months after the EV maker rolled out a major autonomy-focused software update, which included the expansion of the Autonomy platform coverage by 24 times to 3.5 million miles of marked roads.
Rivian initially extended the free trial of Autonomy+ for its Gen 2 customers from “early 2025 to “late 2025,” but as the end of the year approached, the terms were updated.
All new vehicle deliveries included a 60-day trial of Autonomy+ up until February, when customers could opt to subscribe for $49.99 per month or purchase the platform outright for $2,500 — a model first adopted by Tesla.
When Rivian‘s Autonomy+ becomes available as a paid suite, its one-time purchase will be linked to the vehicle’s VIN, not the owner, which indicates that it stays with the car if you switch to a newer vehicle.
For comparison, Tesla has provided a free transfer program for its Full Self-Driving (Supervised) for customers who purchased the suite, which will end on March 31 — as the company transitions to offering FSD exclusively through a subscription model beginning February 14.
Autonomy in 2026
The EV maker’s founder and Chief Executive Officer RJ Scaringe said last year that point-to-point driving would be available for Gen 2 vehicles this year.
He confirmed the ambitions in the ‘Autonomy & AI Day’ event held on December 11, while revealing that eyes-off will be the next step.
As of the latest update in December, Rivian‘s autonomy software currently offers ‘Universal Hands-Free,’ ‘Highway Assist,’ ‘Adaptive Cruise Control’ and ‘Lane Change on Command’ features.
The new autonomy features are only available for second-generation Rivian vehicles, with Gen 1 units having the more limited Driver+ assisted driving.
Stop Signs and Traffic Lights
Upon releasing the hands-free driving software in December, Rivian said the feature could be used over 3.5 million miles across the US and Canada, both on and off highways, “if the lane lines are clearly marked.”
That was reaffirmed in the e-mail sent this Tuesday, where the company said owners “can continue to use hands-free assisted driving on any road with clearly marked lanes.”
A first public demo drive ahead of the software release captured multiple errors, including an attempted red light violation and a failure to stop for a pedestrian, which prompted safety driver interventions.
By then, a Rivian executive riding in the back seat of the vehicle emphasized that the software being tested was a development build — and was not the one shipping to customers.
However, the company warned owners upon the release that the hands-free assisted driving function “will not stop or slow down for traffic lights or stop signs,” urging them to review Owner’s Guide for additional details on the feature.
Rivian x Tesla
Rivian‘s Autonomy platform is currently on SAE’s Level 2 of automation, where the driver is fully responsible for driving the vehicle while it provides assistance.
With the upcoming features, the company aims to reach Level 3, where the system handles all aspects of driving and the driver remains available to take over.
Level 4 autonomy is also in the plans, as revealed in last week’s event, as the EV maker unveiled its custom 5nm processor and transition to in-house silicon.
Rivian’s driver-assistance software currently falls between Tesla’s Autopilot (L1) and the more advanced Full-Self Driving (Supervised), which is gradually moving toward Level 3 autonomy.
Last week, Tesla‘s Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk said the company had achieved “100% unsupervised FSD,” as it began Robotaxi rides in Austin with no safety monitors inside the vehicles and removed the chase cars following the unsupervised fleet a few days later.
It is, however, remaining cautious on the rollout to personal vehicles, for safety reasons.
The two EV makers take different approaches to self-driving technology: Tesla relies primarily on camera-based vision, while Rivian uses a neural network approach, with confirmed plans to include LiDAR in future models.
The upcoming R2 SUV, which will launch with the current hardware used on Gen 2 R1 vehicles, is expected to ship with LiDAR hardware later in the year, as will Gen 3 builds of its debut models.
Blurry R2 Timeline
Rivian has scheduled the start of production of its R2 SUV in the first half, with deliveries set to begin by June.
The company plans to hold a dedicated event to reveal the R2’s full trims and features, but as of Wednesday morning, no date has been announced.
Several customers have made reservations for the vehicle over a year ago. The online configurator is not yet available.
In November, the CEO said the SUV would launch first with a Dual Motor model, without providing further details.
The company had recently confirmed that the $45,000 entry-level trim — the one investors and customers are most eagerly awaiting — would not be the first to launch.
With the timeline tightening and no new announcements, the stock has come under pressure, erasing all the gains it made following the December autonomy news.
As reported earlier on Wednesday by EV, Rivian shares posted on Tuesday its 9th consecutive decline — marking the longest losing streak since late 2022.
The stock fell in seventeen of the last eighteen sessions.
