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Rivian filings reveal Amazon delivery van names, cargo capacity, and specific trims

(Credit: eHauler/RivianForum)

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Rivian’s filings to the NHTSA have revealed something very interesting — the name and what appears to be the main specs of the company’s all-electric delivery vans. Based on these VIN filings, it appears that Rivian may have plans to sell its all-electric delivery vans to clients beyond Amazon in the future. 

Immediately noticeable from Rivian’s VIN filings was the fact that there are three listed trims for its delivery van, each with a different drivetrain option. The names of the Rivian electric delivery van are “500 LHD Van,” “500 RHD Van,” and “700 Van.” As noted in the Rivian Owners Forum, the names of the vehicles seem to be a reference to their cargo capacity.

Credit: Rivian Owners Forum

With this in mind, it appears that the company is looking to initially release versions of the electric delivery van with a capacity of 500 cubic feet and 700 cubic feet, respectively. The vehicles will also be offered in 2x single-motor AWD, dual-motor FWD, and single-motor FWD options. Speculations are abounding that Rivian would be releasing a 900 cubic foot variant of the vehicle in the future as well. 

Perhaps the most interesting portion of Rivian’s filings, however, lies in the specific trims of the 500 LHD Van, 500 RHD Van, and 700 Van. As could be seen in the document, the vehicles would be offered in two trims: the “S” and “Z.” The “Z” variant is specifically listed as an “Amazon” vehicle, while the “S” trim was listed simply for “Service.” Whether this pertains to Rivian’s plans to release its electric delivery vans to clients beyond Amazon in the future remains to be seen, but a trim that’s set apart from the e-commerce giant is quite interesting nonetheless. 

While Rivian R1T deliveries to employees are now underway, reports have recently emerged hinting that the company is laser-focused on releasing some of its electric delivery vans by the end of the year. Back in July, for example, CEO RJ Scaringe noted that while deliveries of the R1T pickup truck would be delayed, the electric delivery vans for Amazon were still being rolled out as scheduled. Sources close to Rivian’s operations have also told Bloomberg that the company is looking to produce as many as 300 Amazon delivery vans by the end of the year, with 10,000 being produced in 2022. 

Rivian currently has an order for 100,000 units of its all-electric delivery vans from Amazon, with the vehicles due for delivery by the end of the decade. On the other hand, the news outlet’s sources have noted that Rivian has so far received refundable deposits for over 48,300 R1T pickup trucks and R1S SUVs. With this in mind, it would be quite unsurprising if Rivian ends up really focusing its production on vehicles that Amazon ordered. 

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Maria--aka "M"-- is an experienced writer and book editor. She's written about several topics including health, tech, and politics. As a book editor, she's worked with authors who write Sci-Fi, Romance, and Dark Fantasy. M loves hearing from TESLARATI readers. If you have any tips or article ideas, contact her at maria@teslarati.com or via X, @Writer_01001101.

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Elon Musk

Tesla Phone? Not quite, but close: analyst

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elon musk phone
Photo: Boss Hunting.com.au

For years, there have been images and videos across social media platforms that have reminded me of when I was a 15-year-old kid teased by “Xbox 720” videos on YouTube. These videos are of the supposed “Tesla Phone” that Elon Musk was secretly developing in between leading Tesla with its electric cars and SpaceX with its reusable rockets.

Although Musk has put those rumors to bed several times, it was never completely out of the realm that he could get involved in cell phones in some capacity. Think outside the box and more macro-level, though. Instead of reinventing the computer, Musk reinvented connectivity by developing Starlink with SpaceX.

It could be something similar, TD Cowen analyst Gregory Williams said in a note last week, where he hinted SpaceX could be gathering some steam to acquire T-Mobile.

Williams said it would be the “clear choice” for SpaceX if it decided to go through with a network acquisition. He also suggested AT&T.

The move would be possible through selling more of its own stock, which would help SpaceX raise the money to purchase T-Mobile, which would cost roughly $300 billion. It could be one of the moves SpaceX makes post-IPO in terms of an acquisition: it already acquired Cursor AI for $60 billion.

Other analysts, like Dan Ives of Wedbush, believe SpaceX and Tesla will eventually merge into one anyway, and that conglomeration could come as soon as this year, some have said.

The implications of SpaceX purchasing T-Mobile are massive. A combined entity would create a truly ubiquitous network: T-Mobile’s terrestrial 5G towers and Starlink’s growing constellation of Direct-to-Cell satellites. This would essentially eliminate dead zones across the U.S. and potentially globally.

SpaceX would instantly become a full-scale facilities-based carrier with satellite differentiation; a huge advantage. This would pressure AT&T and Verizon heavily.

There are also concerns like a potential reduction in long-term competition, and of course, a deal of that size would face intense scrutiny from government agencies.

The strategic fit is compelling due to the existing Starlink–T-Mobile partnership and complementary technologies (space + terrestrial). It could create a dominant integrated communications player. However, the regulatory, financial, and execution hurdles are enormous — this remains highly speculative with no indication SpaceX is actively pursuing it right now.

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Tesla reveals huge Cybercab detail in new guide for First Responders

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Credit: Tesla

Tesla revealed a major new Cybercab detail in a guide it released for First Responders, showing new territory in its beliefs and intentions for the ride-hailing-focused vehicle that entered production in April.

The First Responders Guide is released to give fire departments, paramedics, and other emergency personnel the proper guidance on what to do in the event of an accident, entrapment, or other situation that would require immediate attention.

On one of the pages of the First Responders Guide, Tesla revealed a stark detail about the Cybercab, which could help personnel enter the vehicle more easily in case of an emergency.

Tesla Cybercab has one important piece that AI4 cars might need for FSD

It shows Tesla has no intention of releasing any Cybercab units that were initially proposed for ride-hailing services for the general public with any manual controls, meaning a steering wheel or pedals:

“A Cybercab equipped with steering wheel, brake pedal, and an acceleration pedal is typically an engineering or test vehicle, and operates at SAE Level 2 autonomy. Cybercab is not typically equipped with a steering wheel or acceleration and brake pedals.”

This is a major development for those who continue to believe Tesla planned to release the Cybercab with any sort of manual controls so that passengers could take over if needed. However, when Tesla started manufacturing production versions of the Cybercab in Giga Texas earlier this year, they were spotted without a steering wheel or pedals.

It essentially confirms the company has no intentions of bringing manual controls to the car’s production versions. Some have argued that the likelihood of Tesla having something

There still are some Cybercab units out there with a steering wheel and pedals, and as Tesla said, these cars are engineering or test vehicles, which have Safety Monitors on board to help the car out of a precarious situation or emergency.

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Tesla Full Self-Driving v14 ‘Lite’ Release Notes: new capabilities and features

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(Credit: Megan Gale/Twitter)

Tesla released the Full Self-Driving v14 ‘Lite’ suite to owners of Hardware 3 or AI3 vehicles today, adding several new features to the vehicles that were once believed to be capable of unsupervised self-driving.

Now, Tesla has released this modified suite to older Tesla vehicles, adding plenty of new features and capabilities.

Here are the full release notes for the suite:

  • Distilled the intelligence from HW4 V14 into HW3. This allows HW3 to directly learn how to handle scenarios using HW4 V14 as a guide. This process unlocks the improvements that have been made to HW4 including Reinforcement Learning (RL) and offline models for HW3.
  • Improved both proactive and reactive responsiveness across a wide variety of categories including navigation handling, merges and forks, pedestrian interactions, traffic lights, and vehicle cut-in scenarios.
  • Improved general comfort in nominal scenarios through fewer false slowdowns, smoother steering and more consistent lane centering.
  • Introduced parking, unparking, and reversing capabilities.
  • Added Arrival Options for you to select where FSD should park: in a Parking Lot, on the Street, in a Driveway, or at the Curbside.
  • Speed Profiles are now available at all times, to further customize driving style preference.

These improvements, according to Tesla’s Head of AI, Ashok Elluswamy, help distill the driving behavior from AI4’s v14 series into both the camera and compute configurations of AI3.

Tesla Full Self-Driving v14 ‘Lite’ for older cars finally gets released

He added:

“It includes destination options and speed profiles on city roads, but more importantly significantly improved safety. We hope you’ll enjoy it, once the build ships wide.”

Tesla will continue to roll out the v14 Lite suite more widely in the coming weeks, the company said.

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