Rivian Automotive, Inc. recently filed Form S-1 with the Securities and Exchange Commission on the way to the automaker’s initial public offering. The initial, widespread takeaway from the paperwork focused on Rivian’s $994 million loss so far this year and its 48,390 reservations for the R1T pickup and R2S SUV in the U.S. and Canada. Rivian Forums, as one would expect, went deeper into some of the S-1 details. In one section, it found Rivian’s estimates of lifetime revenue (LTR) for its commercial and consumer vehicles, being $64,600 per vehicle for the former and $67,900 for the latter.
Part of the consumer revenue could come via what Rivian calls the “opportunity from software.” Under that umbrella, Rivian would sell autonomous driving capability to private buyers for $10,000, and could earn another $5,500 over 10 years of subscription revenue for “infotainment, connectivity, diagnostics, and other services.” That works out to nearly $46 per month.
Rivian’s already put the hardware into the R1T and R1S to enable what it says would max out at a Level 3 self-driving system — that equipment consisting of 12 ultrasonic sensors, 11 cameras, five radar units, and a high-precision GPS antenna. At the moment, the hardware is used for the Driver+ suite of adaptive assistance and safety systems. Based on industry practice, we assume a series of software upgrades would ramp up autonomous driving capability.
As Teslarati points out, Rivian’s estimated pricing puts it in the same league as Tesla if not the same ballpark, Tesla charging $10,000 for the “Full Self-Driving” (FSD) suite, or anywhere from $99 to $199 per month for an FSD subscription. Tesla, however, hasn’t capped its autonomy software at Level 3 capability. On the infotainment side, Tesla offers a Premium Connectivity package including things like in-car video streaming and satellite-view maps for $10 per month, and service and diagnostic software subscriptions for anywhere from $32 per hour to $3,200 per year.
It’s important to remember that Rivian’s statements are part of paperwork meant to appeal to investors; they don’t state what Rivian is going to do, only what Rivian believes is possible.
Other tidbits the Rivian forum noted were that the destination charge will be “$1,7XX,” the R1S is slated to commence deliveries in December of this year, DC fast charging will be hardware-limited to 200-kW for initial vehicles with 300-kW DC fast charging planned, and Cox Automotive will be the dedicated reseller for used Rivians “and likely trade-ins,” getting preferential pricing and other perks in exchange for marketing services. Head over to the forum thread for more.