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Every major automaker at this point has some
sort of driver assistance features on their
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vehicles, though they tend to offer varying
degrees of sophistication.
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And while Tesla has been most forthcoming about
its goals to at least eventually make full
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self-driving a reality, one competitor, Rivian,
is suggesting they’ve made some major progress
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as well.
Rivian CEO RJ Scaringe recently shared an
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update on the EV maker’s driverless tech
ambitions.
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Revealing plans for what’s in store.
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These include, according to Scari, a hands-free
feature set to hit the market this year,
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as well as an eyes off system by 2026.
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According to Reuters, current Rivian Gentoo
vehicles come equipped with what’s called the
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Rivian Autonomy Platform, a driver assist
system that still requires drivers to keep
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their attention on controlling the vehicle.
Scari says improving upon the.
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will give drivers their time back and allows
them to complete other tasks like sending
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emails, even reading books while behind the
wheel.
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And while Scaring contends Rivian is
hyper-focused on developing such systems,
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Reuters points out that there are no doubt
regulatory hurdles down the line.
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The NHTSA has opened probes focusing on several
major autonomous driving units over the past
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year, including Waymo and Zos.
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Even Ford, who was under fire over its Blue
Crew’s hands-free driving after the feature was
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linked to several fatalities.
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More recently, the NHTSA has targeted Tesla as
well, launching a review of 2.6 million
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vehicles after reports of accidents involving a
feature that allows users to operate their cars
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remotely.
Some experts believe this points to a trend
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toward stricter safety requirements, though
it’s anybody’s.
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Guess at this point with a new administration
in the mix.
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Speaking of which, noted EV critic President
Trump likely won’t be able to do much about a
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multi-billion dollar loan from the Department
of Energy for Rivian to grow its business via a
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new plant in Georgia.
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Rivian and the agency finalized the deal just
days before Trump took office.
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I’m Anna Wells, and this is manufacturing now.