←back to thread

Rivian Unveils Custom Silicon, R2 Lidar Roadmap, and Universal Hands Free

(riviantrackr.com)
319 points doctoboggan | 4 comments | 11 Dec 25 18:17 UTC | HN request time: 0.476s | source
Show context
idontwantthis ◴[11 Dec 25 18:42 UTC] No.46235249[source]▶
Can anyone explain why RIVN is down 8% after this announcement? Were investors expecting hands free handjobs or something?
replies(7): >>46235297 #>>46235380 #>>46235394 #>>46235443 #>>46235465 #>>46236111 #>>46236165 #
spankalee ◴[11 Dec 25 18:53 UTC] No.46235443[source]▶
I hold some RIVN and I'm wondering why they're spending resources on custom silicon instead of using something off-the-shelf. What is their advantage here? Can they hire the right people? Can they ship enough units to pay for it?

Those are my bearish questions. On the bullish side, the VW deal shows that they're willing and able to license part of their platform, so possibly have a big chance to recoup costs and maybe turn a profit just on that side, which justifies a big software + autonomy investment.

replies(3): >>46235785 #>>46235922 #>>46237385 #
1. 1970-01-01 ◴[11 Dec 25 21:27 UTC] No.46237385[source]▶
>On the bullish side, the VW deal

Oh, I think everyone missed this. Rivian is betting Elon made a big mistake by designing FSD to be strictly for Tesla. Rivian are doing FSD to license it out to other manufacturers. They're planning to open a new market.

replies(3): >>46237792 #>>46239879 #>>46240451 #
2. idontwantthis ◴[11 Dec 25 21:59 UTC] No.46237792[source]▶
I was just thinking about this recently. It doesn’t seem to make sense for each brand to have its own self driving implementation.
3. RivieraKid ◴[12 Dec 25 01:38 UTC] No.46239879[source]▶
But how could they beat Waymo or Tesla? At some point, these companies will offer an L4 package to car makers.
4. deaux ◴[12 Dec 25 03:09 UTC] No.46240451[source]▶
Who cares about Tesla, the comparison here is Waymo who has already been doing this for much longer.