Rivian CEO RJ Scaringe told Yahoo Finance on Friday that a Rivian you own will eventually drop you at the airport and drive itself back home. That is Level 4, and Rivian has not put a date on it for owners. What is dated: supervised Point to Point driving starts for invited owners in December and reaches every Autonomy+ subscriber in 2027, lidar R2s reach customers in 2027, and Uber’s R2 robotaxis are planned for 2028.
The 14-minute interview with Yahoo Finance senior reporter Pras Subramanian was posted Friday morning as part of Yahoo Finance Invest 2026. Scaringe didn’t announce new prices or dates. What he did was lay out, more plainly than usual, what Rivian’s autonomy work is for. “You have your Rivian and it can drive you to the airport and drive itself back home,” he said. “It can go pick up the kids from school.”
Point to Point is next, and you still supervise it
“We’re about to launch our point-to-point capabilities,” Scaringe said, describing a system where “you’ll type the address” and the car drives the route. That lines up with Rivian’s support pages, which say Point to Point goes to members of its invitation-only Autonomy Early Access Program in December, starting in California and Florida, and to all Autonomy+ subscribers in 2027. It requires a paid Autonomy+ plan ($49.99 a month or $2,500 once) on a Gen 2 R1 or an R2. Our early access guide covers who gets picked.
Point to Point is still a hands-free, eyes-on feature. Scaringe called it one step “on a staircase” toward full Level 4, “where the car can drive itself empty.” It runs on Rivian’s Large Driving Model, which Scaringe said learns from millions of miles of owner driving instead of hand-written rules.
| Step | What you do | Rivian’s stated timing |
|---|---|---|
| Universal Hands-Free | Hands off, eyes on the road | Now, with Autonomy+, on 2025 and newer R1 and all R2 |
| Point to Point | Enter an address and supervise | Invited owners in December; all Autonomy+ in 2027 |
| Eyes-off | Look away on supported roads | Targeted for 2027 (Scaringe, July earnings call) |
| Personal Level 4 | Car drives itself with nobody inside | No date given |
| Uber R2 robotaxi | Ride with no driver | San Francisco and Miami in 2028 |
The eyes-off target comes from Scaringe’s remarks on Rivian’s July earnings call, as reported by Electrek. Rivian has listed “personal L4” on its roadmap since its first Autonomy & AI Day in December 2025 but hasn’t attached a year to it.
Lidar R2s go to employees first
“In our case, soon we’re launching with lidar,” Scaringe said. No R2 a customer can order today has it. Rivian’s investor relations team said in September that the first R2s with lidar and its in-house RAP1 computer go to employees by the end of 2026 and to customers in 2027, and Rivian says it won’t retrofit existing cars. We broke down what that means for buyers earlier this month.
The Uber deal pays $1.25 billion only if Rivian hits milestones
Scaringe described the Uber partnership as “a $1.25 billion deal” for a robotaxi version of the R2. The March 19 announcement says Uber will invest up to that amount through 2031, tied to autonomy milestones, with $300 million committed up front. Uber or its fleet partners are expected to buy 10,000 R2 robotaxis, with an option on up to 40,000 more starting in 2030. Rivian told investors in October it expects to hit its next milestone by year end, which would release another $250 million.
Uber R2 robotaxi
- Sold only through the Uber app
- San Francisco and Miami first, in 2028
- Up to 25 cities in the US, Canada and Europe by the end of 2031
Owned Rivian with Level 4
- Drives you, then returns home empty
- Could replace a second or third household car, Scaringe says
- No launch date yet
Scaringe thinks robotaxis dent car ownership but don’t end it
Scaringe expects robotaxis to push more people in dense cities like New York to give up a car, but not the country as a whole. “I think maybe it goes from 95% to 90%,” he said, adding, “But we don’t know.” He described a middle ground arriving in the 2030s, such as neighbors sharing one self-driving car that takes one of them to work and then comes back for the other. A self-driving owned car, he said, might shrink a two- or three-car household to one or two.
That is why Rivian is building both. The R2 is already Rivian’s best-selling vehicle by volume, according to its third-quarter results, and the R3 and later the R4 are meant to push prices lower still. R3 production is planned at Rivian’s Georgia plant starting in 2028. Rivian hasn’t given specs or timing for the R4.
Doug Field joined Mind Robotics, not Rivian
The interview also touched on what Subramanian called a big hire. Doug Field, who led Tesla’s Model 3 engineering and later Ford’s EV and digital business, became president of Mind Robotics on Oct. 13. That is the industrial robotics company Scaringe founded in 2025. Rivian owned 31.2% of it as of Sept. 30 and is its first customer, but Field doesn’t work for Rivian. Scaringe retold the story he first shared at TechCrunch Disrupt: he called Field asking for a recommendation for “somebody like Doug Field” and ended up hiring “the Doug.”
Rivian’s next chance to put dates on all of this is its Autonomy & AI Day on Dec. 9. For current R2 trims and prices, see our R2 trim guide.
FAQ
Can a Rivian drive itself with nobody inside?
Not yet. Every Rivian on the road today needs an attentive driver. Scaringe described driving itself empty as the goal at the top of Rivian’s roadmap, and Rivian hasn’t announced a date for owners.
When does Rivian Point to Point launch?
Rivian says invited Autonomy Early Access members get it in December, starting in California and Florida. Every Gen 2 R1 and R2 owner with Autonomy+ is scheduled to get it in 2027.
Is Uber really paying Rivian $1.25 billion?
Up to $1.25 billion through 2031. Only $300 million was committed at signing. The rest depends on Rivian hitting autonomy milestones by set dates.