Rivian will launch hands-off highway driver assist ‘in a few weeks’

Rivian said Thursday it plans to launch a hands-off version of its driver assistance system for highway driving “in a few weeks,” and an “eyes-off” version in 2026. The hands-off system will let Rivian compete with companies like Ford and General Motors, which have both launched similar systems in the past few years. (Ford has named its system BlueCruise, while GM has SuperCruise.) Tesla’s Full Self-Driving (supervised) system, which is not fully autonomous despite its name, requires users to keep their hands on the wheel. The launch comes as Rivian is forecasting another challenging year, driven in large part by uncertainty around what changes the Trump administration might make to regulatory policy. The company did post its first positive gross profit in the fourth quarter of 2024. That was buoyed by a company-wide cost-cutting effort in 2024 but also an increase in software and services revenue. Rivian’s autonomy ambitions were front-and-center when the company broke stealth in 2 ... Read full article.