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Rivian launches hands-off driving assist in latest software update
Rivian is finally making its way into the world of automated driving.
Electric vehicle (EV) maker Rivian debuted a new software update this week, and as part of it, the company has started rolling out a hands-off driving assistance system.
Rivian announced the software update in a press release on Tuesday, featuring the newly launched Enhanced Highway Assist for its Gen 2 R1T and R1S, as well as a performance upgrade and a few other improvements. In a separate release, Rivian has also detailed some of the gears behind its approach to autonomy, highlighting that the Enhanced Highway Assist is available for use on as many as 135,000 miles of highway in North America.
Below is a video from CEO RJ Scaringe and VP of Autonomy and AI James Philbin, along with a few more details about the software update and some information from the automaker about the in-house Rivian Autonomy Platform.

Credit: Rivian
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Enhanced Highway Assist for Gen 2 vehicles
The company’s latest software update is deploying the new Enhanced Highway Assist to Gen 2 vehicles, which will let drivers take their hands off the wheel for extended periods of time, not unlike Tesla’s Supervised Full Self-Driving (FSD). For the time being, the feature is being offered to owners for free, though it’s not clear if Rivian plans to eventually start charging for the suite.
Enhanced Highway Assist is able to control the vehicles’ steering, acceleration, and braking, and Rivian also uses an infrared cabin camera embedded in the interior rearview mirror to monitor driver attention.
Rivian Autonomy Platform
In the press release dedicated to its autonomy program, Rivian notes that its vehicles include a multimodal suite of 11 cameras and five radars, offering sensor redundancy and a 360-degree view. The company also says that its internally developed cameras have the highest resolution of any vehicle in North America, while its radar systems are intended to help detect objects over longer distances and in low-visibility conditions.
“We are excited to continue releasing new updates and dramatically expanding our autonomy features,” Philbin said. “Everything on our Gen 2 roadmap is capable with the hardware on our vehicles today.”
Rivian says its vehicles also include an on-board compute module that’s capable of more than 200 trillion operations per second, while the company’s machine learning models are trained on the latest ML research and transformer architectures.
Performance Upgrade for Dual-Motor (Gen 1 and Gen 2)
Rivian has also debuted a $5,000 Performance Upgrade for Gen 1 and Gen 2 vehicles with the Standard+, Large and Max battery packs, unlocking 665 horsepower and 829 lb.-ft. of torque. The upgrade also adds three new drive modes, dubbed Sport, Rally, and Soft Sand, to the currently available All-Purpose, All-Terrain, and Snow modes.
Owners can purchase the upgrade from the Rivian mobile app or account page, and it will be downloaded to the vehicle through an over-the-air (OTA) software update.

Credit: Rivian
Rally Mode comes to Performance Dual-Motor vehicles
The update also adds Rally Mode to Performance Dual-Motor vehicles, offering heightened throttle response, crisper steering on just about any terrain. To use the feature, drivers will simply need to switch into Off-Road mode, which will let them select Rally Mode.
Wheel Swap
Owners will now be able to change the vehicles’ wheel type in the settings menu, offering improved range estimates.

Credit: Rivian
Go Chime
Rivian has added an audible chime for when a stopped vehicle ahead starts moving, signaling to the driver that they can start driving too. The chime will first be added to the EV maker’s Gen 2 models, before later rolling out to Gen 1.
Side Mirror Auto-Tilt on Reverse
When drivers shift into reverse, Rivian’s sideview mirrors will now automatically tilt downward to show the curb and road, making parallel parking easier. This feature will also go out to both Gen 1 and Gen 2 vehicles.
Control Chargeport Door from Mobile App
Drivers will now be able to control their charging port door remotely using the mobile app, adding an extra layer of protection for those who walk away without closing it manually.
Tire Puncture Detection
Rivian has added proactive detection for tire punctures and slow leaks, set to notify drivers of a potential flat tire before it happens.
Rivian teams up with Ben & Jerry’s on an electric ice cream truck
Elon Musk
The Boring Company’s latest Tesla tunnel truck mod “fits like a glove”
The Boring Company has modified a Tesla powered tunnel truck to carry freight containers underground.
The Boring Company has found a second job for the Tesla hardware it already runs underground. In a post on X, Elon Musk’s tunneling company showed its latest Prufrock Liner Truck modified to carry a standard 20 foot shipping container. “Using TBC tunnels to transport freight,” the company wrote. “The latest Prufrock Liner Truck (using Tesla Model 3 batteries and drive units) has been modified to carry a standard 20′ shipping container. Fits like a glove!”
The photo shows a red container sitting on a long, low white chassis parked outside, with drive hardware visible at one end. The Boring Company did not say where or when freight hauling would start, which customers it has in mind, or how many trucks it is converting.
Using TBC tunnels to transport freight.
The latest Prufrock Liner Truck (using Tesla Model 3 batteries and drive units) has been modified to carry a standard 20’ shipping container.
Fits like a glove! https://t.co/VV0phWK4fc
— The Boring Company (@boringcompany) October 19, 2026
Until now, the liner trucks have hauled concrete. Teslarati reported in August on Liner Truck 3, which uses Model 3 battery packs and drive units to move more than 22,000 pounds of precast tunnel segments to the boring machine. It has 28 miles of range, tops out at 12 mph, and is piloted remotely from the company’s operations center in Texas. The freight version appears to be the same platform with a different bed, and The Boring Company has not said whether it will also be remotely piloted.
Freight has been on the company’s menu for years. When TBC updated its product lineup in 2021, its freight tunnel was described as sized to fit a standard shipping container, “barely.” The company later used the idea at Tesla’s own factory, where Prufrock 3 dug a tunnel to Giga Texas that now moves finished Cybertrucks away from the production line.
The Boring Company closed a $3 billion Series D in September at a $23 billion valuation, and Teslarati has covered how that money is tied to a UAE tunneling push and a faster Nashville build. In Nashville, Prufrock MB1 and MB2 are mining at the same time, and a third machine is expected to launch in late October. Each machine needs a steady supply of liner trucks, so any design that works for segments and containers alike gives the company more use out of the same Tesla parts.
The Vegas Loop remains the only Boring Company system open to the public, and it moves passengers in Tesla vehicles. A freight service would be a separate product, and the post gave no indication that one is close to launch. For now, it is a truck, a container and a short caption saying they fit together.
Elon Musk
Elon Musk will give ‘every kid in America’ a SpaceX share in 2027
Elon Musk said he is planning to give “every one of his SpaceX shares to every kid in America” in 2027, stating that “this will be the first of many.”
SpaceX went public earlier this year, and its stock price has been relatively stable since leveling off shortly after its IPO. Based on its current price, it’s a gift of just over $10 billion to children across the United States.
It appears to be closely related to President Donald Trump’s bank accounts for children, which were set up earlier this year as Trump Accounts.
Just hours earlier, Anthropic had announced the establishment of its Anthropic Public Benefit Fund, “a new wholly-owned entity dedicated entirely to public benefit.” Musk responded by stating he recommended “giving the shares directly to the public,” and that he would be doing it that way.
Just a little bit later, Musk said children across the U.S. would be getting a share from him:
Next year, I will give one of my SpaceX shares to every kid in America.
This will be the first of many.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 19, 2026
There are roughly 70 million children, meaning someone under the age of 18, in the United States, according to the Federal Interagency Forum on Child and Family Statistics. Musk’s ownership of SpaceX stock shows he has around 849 million Class A shares of SpaceX stock, according to filings with the SEC.
Elon Musk
Elon Musk reveals why Boring Co’s biggest East Coast project never happened
Elon Musk revealed in a post on X that “Permits were impossible to get,” explaining the fate of The Boring Company’s most ambitious East Coast proposal.
The comment responded to a query about what became of his July 20, 2017 announcement that he had “just received verbal govt approval” for an underground Hyperloop connecting New York City, Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Washington, D.C., capable of carrying passengers from the Big Apple to the Nation’s Capital in just 29 minutes.
The Boring Company receives verbal ‘approval’ to build NY to DC Hyperloop tunnel
The 2017 post, which envisioned city-center stations and multiple elevators in each city, sparked immediate scrutiny. Local and state officials in New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, and D.C. said they had no knowledge of any approval. A White House spokesperson confirmed only “promising conversations” about the transformative infrastructure.
Musk clarified shortly after that there was “still a lot of work” to do for formal approvals.
@cybrtrkguy Permits were impossible to get
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 19, 2026
Limited progress followed, as Maryland Governor Larry Hogan’s administration issued a conditional utility permit and supported work near Fort Meade. In 2018, Washington, D.C., granted a preliminary permit for site preparation and excavation on a vacant lot at 53 New York Ave. NE in the NoMa neighborhood, which The Boring Company said could become a station.
A draft environmental assessment for a D.C.-Baltimore segment was released in 2019. Yet, by April 2021, the company had removed the project from its website, and the Federal Highway Administration reported receiving no indication of further interest. Communication with Maryland officials had ceased.
The full corridor would have required coordination among the District of Columbia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, New York, the Federal Highway Administration, the Army Corps of Engineers, the National Park Service, and other agencies.
Environmental reviews under the National Environmental Policy Act, utility clearances, and approvals for novel infrastructure added to the overall complexity of the project and its approval.
Speculation on the permitting barriers centers around a few factors, but a multi-state, multi-level route involving unproven high-speed vacuum-tube technology inherently triggers exhaustive safety, environmental, and engineering reviews that can stretch for years, even for conventional projects.
There are also other elements, of course, like officials who may face political exposure if a privately funded, untested system encountered anything such as cost overruns, delays, or safety issues. On the outset of this project, there were limited things such as engineering plans or demonstrated technology maturity, which also added to the potential skepticism.
The East Coast vision for Boring Co., once framed as a privately funded revolution that could reshape Northeast travel, quietly ended without construction of the promised network. Musk’s recent statement frames the outcome as a regulatory impasse, unfortunate but not unexpected.