Rivian doubles down on new plan to beat Tesla | Official Website of Louis Velazquez, entrepreneur, finance guy and tech innovator

Electric vehicle companies such as Rivian must adjust to the new political reality.

While the Biden administration was extremely pro-EV, the Trump administration has been the opposite.

President Donald Trump’s signature economic agenda this year ended the $7,500 EV tax credit that helped boost sales for years.

EV makers with record-setting Q3:

Ford: 85,789 hybrid, PHEV, and BEV sales, +20%
General Motors: 66,501 EVs in Q3, YTD 144,668, +105%
Tesla: 497,099 deliveries, +7.3%

And while the near-term effect caused EV sales to spike during the first three quarters of the year as consumers raced to get the tax credit before it expired at the end of September, the long-term effect will undoubtedly be lower EV demand.

Rivian, the startup rival to Tesla’s EV market dominance, followed its competitor’s lead earlier this year when it canceled its performance-based compensation for CEO RJ Scaringe in favor of a new pay plan worth as much as $4.6 billion over the next 10 years.

Like the plan Tesla shareholders recently approved for CEO Elon Musk, Scaringe’s pay package is incentive-laden, including a $140 price target and adjusted operating income and cash flow targets.

However, to achieve those incentives, the company will have to do more than simply increase car sales dramatically.

This week, the EV maker got even more serious about its autonomous driving ambitions.

Rivian has a partnership with Amazon, aiming to have 100,000 delivery vans on the road by 2030.

Photo by Albany Times Union/Hearst Newspapers on Getty Images

Rivian unveils updated AI strategy at Autonomy & AI Day

Rivian understands that to compete with Tesla, it must be more than just a car company; it must also be a technology leader.

Tesla Full Self-Driving (Supervised) is an industry-leading advanced driver assistance system, and Rivian believes it has the tech to surpass FSD.

Rivian states that it is investing in hardware and compute infrastructure, developing an advanced, end-to-end AI autonomy system that scales, and harnessing a “shared data foundation” that will transform the ownership experience for its customers.

During its Autonomy & AI Day on Thursday, the company introduced the Gen 3 Autonomy Computer, its third-generation compute platform, which it says will have the “leading combination of vehicle sensors and inference available in North America.”

The Gen 3 Autonomy Computer can process 5 billion pixels per second, thanks to the Rivian Autonomy Processor, its proprietary silicon chip that Rivian claims is among the first multi-chip modules used in high-compute applications in the automotive industry.

The company also announced that it is integrating LiDAR into its fleet, starting with future R2 models, marking another difference from Tesla. Musk has called LiDAR expensive and unnecessary.

LiDAR (light detection and ranging) uses laser lights to measure distances and create more precise 3D maps, and Rivian says the tech “provides detailed, three-dimensional spatial data and redundant sensing,” adding another layer of safety to its system.

Starting in 2026, Rivian vehicles will be able to achieve point-to-point, hands-free navigation.

“You can be on your phone or reading a book, no longer needing to be actively involved in the operation of the vehicle,” Scaringe said, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Starting in March, the company will begin charging for the hands-free feature. Customers can either purchase a $50 per month subscription or pay a one-time charge of $2,500.

Rivian reports uneven Q3 results

Rivian benefited from the end of the $7,500 EV tax credit, as did the rest of the industry, but the company expects the rest of the year to be challenging.

Revenue rose 78% year over year to $1.56 billion, topping analyst estimates of $1.5 billion. The company reported a profit of $24 million, reversing a loss from the previous year. In the previous quarter, Rivian reported a loss of $1.1 billion.

The company maintained its full-year adjusted EBITDA loss outlook of $2 billion to $2.25 billion, as well as its capital spending estimate of up to $1.9 billion.

“In Q3, we continued to make significant progress across our strategic priorities, which include R2 and our technology roadmap,” Scaringe said.

“Over the long term, we believe the automotive industry will be fully electric, autonomous, and software-defined. We continue to believe that Rivian’s vertically integrated technologies and direct-to-customer ownership experience position our company to build a category-defining brand with a strong product portfolio for the U.S. and European markets.”

Rivian expects to deliver between 41,500 and 43,500 vehicles for the year, narrowing its previous guidance of between 40,000 and 46,000.

Rivian to lay off more than 600 workers due to falling demand

Rivian announced plans to lay off more than 600 workers over the coming weeks, as the company responds to a decline in electric vehicle demand following the expiration of the $7,500 federal tax credit.

Rivian is reducing its headcount by approximately 4%. At the end of last year, the company had about 15,000 employees.

The October announcement was the second time the company had laid off employees in as many months. In September, Rivian announced a smaller round of layoffs, affecting 1.5% of its workforce.

At the time, the company said the move was designed to reduce costs ahead of the launch of its more affordable R2 SUV in 2026.