Rivian CEO Sees New Electric SUV as Key Milestone for AI Tech

Rivian Automotive Inc. is betting its next-generation R2 SUV will do more than boost sales. The higher-volume vehicle is key to unlocking the EV maker’s autonomous driving future, Chief Executive Officer RJ Scaringe said, by scaling the real-world data needed for its artificial-intelligence technology.

“Think of the R2 fleet — it’s a high volume product — as being part of training our large driving model,” Scaringe said Wednesday in a Bloomberg Television interview. Adding laser-based sensors and improved chips “just allows us to do a better job of capturing lots and lots of driving miles to train our model.”