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Rivian shows off new details at NY Auto Show before heading home

[Image: Dacia J. Ferris/Teslarati]

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Rivian has been on a promotional whirlwind since the company came out of the shadows last year at the 2018 LA Auto Show, and with it, the all-electric adventure company’s attendance at the New York International Auto Show this year has now generated quite a few more vehicle detail revelations from interviews posted online by show attendees.

Brian Gase, Rivian’s Chief Engineer of Special Projects, appeared in a number of videos describing features of the R1T truck and R1S SUV that are unique and otherwise not commonly known about the vehicles.

First, the number of storage compartments were one of the smaller details that stood out. In the R1T, the back passenger seats have bins underneath the cushions, and both vehicles have sliding bins underneath the driver and shotgun seats. A full size spare tire is in the R1T bed and can be removed for even more storage if needed, but to save space for storage and its usable third row seating, the R1S has an inflatable spare tire under the trunk floor.

Rivian’s plans for interior color options were also mentioned, and there are three: Forest Edge (the green inside the demo R1T), Lunar Rock (the grey inside the demo R1S), and black. Additional premium options will be offered for interior fabrics which are already a blend of traditional materials and the types of fabrics you’d find in durable outerwear. The cabins also feature quad-zone climate control.

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On the performance side, 170 kW of independent power is provided to each wheel which also provides for torque vectoring. The approximately 750-800 total horsepower in each vehicle works out to about 180 hp per wheel from each of the four motors.

Rivian’s high density battery pack, complete with a thermal control system that adapts according to charging and driving behavior, then powers the whole package. A giant battery might not seem like it would be a great choice for four-wheel adventures, but Rivian has tightly encased its vehicles’ power supply using advanced materials science to be capable of wading up to three feet of water. Since there’s no engine requiring air, only buoyancy prevents a deeper crawl.

Progress in the automotive self-driving arena is moving fast, and Rivian has already integrated that reality into the R1T and R1S designs. The camera and radar hardware on production vehicles will be capable of Level 3 autonomous driving that’s upgradable via over-the-air software updates. Rivian’s initial vehicles will ship with Level 2 capabilities and use data accumulated from its customers’ driving sent to the cloud to develop its Level 3 transition, very similar to Tesla’s strategy. Previously, Rivian has additionally suggested Jurassic Park-style autonomous tours might be available for owners wanting a guided, real-world adventure experience.

Rivian has several test mules on the road using F-150 bodies, but only one production design model of each car has been made to be used at shows and in videos.

Finally, you might know that Rivian was founded in 2009 by CEO RJ Scaringe, an MIT graduate (he holds an MS and PhD in mechanical engineering), but it seems lesser known how his personal life story is imprinted right in the company’s name. Scaringe grew up near the Indian River region of Florida, and that’s where the Rivian name is derived (RIV(er)-(Ind)IAN).

Rivian R1T truck at the NY Auto Show 2019. | Image: Dacia J. Ferris/Teslarati

BACK TO BASICS

All of those tidbits will now join the overall more well known features driving the appeal of Rivian’s R1T truck and R1S SUV. A recap of the basics may put them into a better perspective still.

On battery packs, Rivian’s focus on outdoor adventure means that decent battery capacity and range are key components if their product ideas are to be successful, and their much-touted 180 kWh battery “megapack” boasting a 400+ mile range seems to fit that bill. The mid-range 135 kWh pack claiming a 300 mile range is also decent for well-planned routes, and it just so happens to have a fun number of 2170 battery cells – 7,777 exactly if you count the battery inside the in-door flashlight. The 135 kWh battery pack vehicles are also the versions that will do 0-60 mph in 3 seconds, although all versions are speed limited to 125 mph. A lower end 105 kWh pack with a 230 mile range will be produced last, per the usual new EV strategy of offering premium cars before more affordable variations.

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https://twitter.com/PrincessDeixa/status/1118957811285811200

The first R1S and R1T deliveries are set for the end of 2020, and Rivian is currently taking preorder deposits to reserve their upcoming vehicles. Purchase prices will start at $69,000 for the R1T and $72,500 for the R1S before tax incentives.

Aside from being first to unveil a near-production all-electric pickup truck, two other features in Rivian’s electric cars have stood out. First, the quad-motor “skateboard” chassis that forms the base of current and future vehicles centralizes and simplifies Rivian’s innovations into a flexible electric car platform for its future product lines. This feature has also drawn interest from big-name partners like GM and Ford, the latter having just signed a $500 million deal with Rivian to use its tech to develop their first all-electric vehicle.

A somewhat new tidbit about the skateboard platform is the size difference between the R1S version and the R1T version. The R1S chassis is 375 mm shorter than the R1T to boost its off-road capabilities. Both vehicles’ towing capacity is around 11,000 pounds.

The second well-known feature about Rivian’s two outdoor-purposed vehicles is the amount of storage space incorporated into the designs. The frunks are spacious with a 330 mL capacity, and the R1T truck has what they call a ‘gear tunnel’, which is essentially a large cargo space tunneled through the lower middle of the truck’s cab. It looks to have the makings of the next social media photo craze, but that’s obviously speculation.

Both the frunk and tailgates have powered open and close functions for ease of use, the tailgate opening a full 180 degrees, and the bed has a powered built-in tonneau cover strong enough to support loading. Also included in the truck bed are 110V power outlets, onboard air, lights to illuminate the bed, and a gear cable that’s electronically connected to the vehicle. If the cable is cut or disconnected for any reason, the owner receives a notification on their Rivian app.

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Other details to mention are the electrochromatic glass roof built into both the R1T and R1S that can change color on demand, specifically in response to outside weather and light conditions, and the daytime running lights that also act as turn signals and charging status indicator lights. A charging status indicator is also in the back of the vehicles.

The last major Rivian feature to mention is the adaptable air suspension. Both vehicles’ ride height can be easily raised or lowered depending on road conditions to adjust comfort and handling characteristics. There’s even a ‘kneel’ mode to ease vehicle entry and exit.

STILL TO COME

Rivian’s R1T truck and R1S SUV already have enough innovative details to drive their consumer appeal as-is, but the company has even more developments going on in the background. Recently published patent applications have revealed a modular system for swapping out vehicle components based on activity need and a digital jerry can to extend the battery range even further for longer trips away from a charging network.

Additionally, trademark applications filed with the US Patent and Trademark Office have teased several other products in the works with names like 1C, 1A, and 2R. An interview with RJ Scaringe published by Bloomberg confirmed that Rivian is indeed working on six other products.

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Details surrounding Rivian’s plans for a service network are still slim despite the abundance of other important information about the Michigan-based company. The R1S and R1T vehicles will use CCS charging ports, but whether a charging partnership or a home-grown effort is planned remains to be seen.

A NY International Auto Show attendee recently posted on Reddit details gathered from speaking with Rivian’s team, including Scaringe, and indications were made that the company is interested in using Tesla’s Superchargers, although they’ve had some difficulties with the effort. A potential roadshow tour offering test drives was also mentioned.

A couple of the Rivian video interviews can be watched below:

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Accidental computer geek, fascinated by most history and the multiplanetary future on its way. Quite keen on the democratization of space. | It's pronounced day-sha, but I answer to almost any variation thereof.

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SpaceX’s Starfall just went from secret to storefront

SpaceX now pitches Starfall missions with 1,000 kg payloads, weeks of microgravity, and Starlink connectivity.

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An artist’s illustration of a SpaceX Starfall capsule reentering Earth’s atmosphere. (Image: SpaceX)

SpaceX has put up a dedicated commercial page for Starfall, its disk shaped reentry capsule, laying out for the first time what customers actually get when they book a flight. The page, live at spacex.com/starfall, pitches “affordable, routine access to microgravity” and invites companies to get in touch about flying manufacturing, research or testing payloads.

The specs are short and specific. Each Starfall mission carries up to 1,000 kg of payload, supplies 1 kW of power and connects through an Ethernet interface. Mission length is tailored to the customer, and the payload stays online the entire time through Starlink, which means researchers can pull data from an experiment while it is still in orbit instead of waiting for splashdown.

SpaceX is launching a secret spacecraft that could change how things are made in space

SpaceX is aiming the service at three markets. Biomedical customers are told they can grow stem cell organoids, replacement tissue and layered biomaterials. Pharmaceutical companies are pitched on protein and small molecule drug crystals, which form smaller and more uniform shapes without gravity driven convection. Materials science rounds out the list, with semiconductors and other next generation materials grown in vacuum and microgravity.

The page also makes clear which rocket SpaceX is counting on. “By launching on Starship, Starfall brings a reliable and scalable cadence previously unavailable to the market,” the company wrote, contrasting weeks of continuous microgravity with the seconds offered by drop towers and parabolic flights. No price or first operational flight date is listed.

The commercial push is a sharp turn from how Starfall started. SpaceX said almost nothing about the capsule ahead of its first flight in June, and nearly everything known came from FAA and FCC filings describing a disk about 10.2 feet wide and 2.5 feet tall that can return 2,200 pounds of cargo. By its second flight on the Bandwagon-5 rideshare in October, Starfall was listed by name on the mission page, though SpaceX still did not say what it carried.

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Customers appear to be lining up. SpaceX said in its third quarter results that it signed three commercial Starfall missions during the quarter. On the earnings call, President Gwynne Shotwell described the capsule as providing “routine relatively low cost access to microgravity environments for scientific research, including improving our understanding of diseases like cancer and diabetes,” and said the three new missions would fly on Starship.

The branding effort extends past the website. SpaceX added a Starfall T-shirt to its online store on Monday as part of a batch of new merchandise, giving the program a place next to Starship, Starlink and Starshield in the company’s lineup.

The move also puts SpaceX in more direct competition with companies it launches. Varda Space Industries, which has built much of the in-space manufacturing market so far, flew its W-Series 7 capsule on the same Bandwagon-5 mission as Starfall in October. Varda’s capsules are roughly three times smaller than Starfall, and SpaceX controls the ride to orbit for both.

Starfall’s near term cadence depends on Starship. SpaceX is preparing for Flight 15 after completing static fires of Ship 42 and its Super Heavy booster in late October, and is aiming to catch both stages with the launch tower on that flight.

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Elon Musk

Grok Bot users hit with weekly limits early, Elon Musk explains what happened

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Credit: Grok Bot

Elon Musk said weeks ago during SpaceX’s third-quarter earnings call that the company’s Grok Bot, its autonomous AI Agent platform, was showing “the fastest growth of a product” that he’d ever seen in his life.

Now, SpaceXSI is scaling back Grok Bot users’ weekly limits, much to the surprise of those who have relied on it to take away monotonous tasks in their lives.

Elon Musk’s terse November 1 reply on X captured a sharp tension in the early days of agentic AI. Responding to a user who asked for a Grok Bot usage reset after hitting 100 percent with four days still left on the weekly cycle, Musk wrote: “The cost of serving Grok Bot was unsustainably high relative to revenue.”

The post arrived amid a wave of similar complaints from paying subscribers whose meters had jumped unexpectedly toward or to the limit, sometimes overnight and with little corresponding activity. It also stood in clear contrast to statements Musk had made only days and weeks earlier.

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On the SpaceX third-quarter earnings call in mid-to-late October, Musk had described Grok Bot in almost the opposite terms. He called it “the fastest growth of a product that I’ve ever seen in my life” and said he had “never seen anything grow this fast.”

Company figures put paid weekly users at roughly 800,000 earlier in the month, more than doubling over the prior period. Daily active users had climbed from under 100,000 in early September to over 600,000 by late October.

Musk emphasized that the product has no free tier and that users appear to be getting real value beyond what they pay. In other remarks, he noted that usage per user was rising rather than declining, the opposite of the usual decay pattern for new software.

Grok Bot, launched around August, functions as an always-available agent with its own persistent cloud computer; it can schedule, research, shop, browse, and execute multi-step workflows even after the user steps away. Access is bundled into X subscription tiers (roughly $30, $100, and $200 per month) and certain Cursor plans, drawing from shared weekly usage pools whose exact sizes have not been publicly detailed.

The economics of that model are what Musk’s November 1 post put in the spotlight. Agentic systems burn far more compute than ordinary chatbot exchanges. Each task can trigger repeated model calls, tool use, web actions, and sustained background work.

When growth is as rapid as Musk celebrated, the absolute compute bill scales quickly even if average revenue per user stays fixed under flat monthly subscriptions. Industry observers noted the opportunity cost as well: the same GPUs can be rented to other AI labs at higher rates.

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A simple back-of-the-envelope comparison circulating after the post illustrated the gap: if every reported daily user paid the top tier, annualized subscription revenue would still be modest relative to the scale of compute infrastructure SpaceX is building and leasing to companies like Anthropic.

Some users also reported possible dashboard anomalies around the same period, though Musk’s framing treated the underlying cost-revenue imbalance as the core issue rather than a pure metering glitch.

The juxtaposition is the core of this exchange. Within roughly two weeks of publicly framing Grok Bot as an unprecedented success with strong unit economics and no free tier, Musk acknowledged that serving the same product had become unsustainable relative to the revenue it generates.

For the broader industry, the episode underscores a structural challenge of the agent era: demand is real and growing faster than many expected, yet the cost of fulfilling that demand through always-on, multi-step agents can outrun subscription pricing before companies can adjust limits, introduce metered billing, or raise prices.

Musk’s reply did not promise an immediate reset or higher allowances; it simply stated the constraint. In doing so, it supplied a rare, explicit public data point on the unit economics of a high-profile AI agent just as adoption numbers were still being celebrated as the fastest in Musk’s experience.

The tension between rapid, paid growth and the compute required to deliver it is now on the record.

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Tesla owners who tap Emergency Drive Away for fun are in for a surprise

Tapping Activate on Tesla’s Emergency Drive Away reportedly triggers a $539 service bill without moving.

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Tesla owners who press Activate on Emergency Drive Away may be on the hook for a service bill even if their car never leaves the Supercharger stall.

Yaro, who posts about Tesla service cases on X as @Tutrifour, said a customer called after tapping Activate while still plugged into a Supercharger. The owner was about to pull away, remembered the cable was still connected and stopped. The car never moved, but the touchscreen showed a red alert reading “Emergency Drive Away has been activated” with “Service is required” underneath. A Service Mode screenshot showed the active alert BMS_a228_EmergencyDriveAwayServiceRequired, which Yaro said only Tesla Service can clear.


The cost of clearing it was the bigger surprise. “Don’t press Activate on the new Emergency Drive Away feature on your Tesla because service charges $539 to inspect the charge port and to clear the alert. Yes, even if you didn’t move the car an inch,” Yaro wrote.  The $539 figure comes from that single case, and Tesla has not published a set price for the inspection or commented on the post. Yaro also noted that the car would still charge with the alert on screen.

Tesla launched Emergency Drive Away on October 1 with software update 2026.38.3, letting drivers pull away from a U.S. Supercharger with the cable still attached, as Teslarati reported. To use it, a driver shifts into Drive while connected, holds the brake and taps Activate. The prompt warns that driving with the cable connected will damage the vehicle and the Supercharger, and that short camera recordings will be shared with Tesla.

Tesla Charging has been clear about what follows a real activation. Repairs to a Supercharger stall can run up to $25,000 depending on the site, a service visit for the car’s charge port is mandatory, and deliberate misuse “will invoke additional penalties.” What the company had not spelled out is that the service requirement is triggered the moment Activate is pressed, not the moment the cable breaks away.

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From an engineering standpoint, that is the cautious choice. Once Activate is pressed, the car cannot be sure the charge port latch was not stressed, so flagging it for inspection removes the guesswork. It also means the button carries a price on its own, which is a stronger deterrent against casual use than any warning screen.


The report follows the feature’s first known real world use, when a driver in Austin during F1 weekend appeared to trigger it by accident and dragged the Supercharger cable along with the car. The Reddit user who filmed it said the driver seemed to have only half read the prompts.

For owners, the takeaway is to treat the red prompt as a stop sign. If it appears after shifting out of Park by mistake, shift back and unplug the normal way from the touchscreen, the Tesla app or the button on the charge handle. Activate is meant for moments when staying at the stall is the bigger risk, and Tesla is now pricing it that way.

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