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Rivian’s manufacturing plant moves closer to full-scale production, documents show

Rivian Automotive's Normal, IL factory. (Photo: Rivian)

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Rivian’s production plant in Normal, Illinois is moving swiftly toward its first days of full-scale production. New documents acquired by Teslarati show the automaker is applying for, submitting, and completing several new additions to its manufacturing plant that will soon begin cranking out builds of its all-electric R1T pickup.

Documents from the Normal, Illinois Inspection Department’s Monthly Permit and Project Summary for February 2021 show Rivian has recently submitted, had permits approved for, and is completing several add-ons to its new factory. While the plant sits at 100 Rivian Motorway, several other addresses on the documents apply to Rivian’s plans, including 100 Rivian Parkway, 301 Kerrick Road, 2430 Electric Avenue, and 2601 W. College Avenue.

With the production of the R1T planned for later this year and deliveries slated for June 2021, Rivian, headed by CEO RJ Scaringe, undoubtedly has major potential to make this year its biggest yet. Of course, delivering its first car to a customer would already be monumental for the company, but production and construction efforts were delayed in 2020 to this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Now, Rivian is working to put the finishing touches on its facility as production nears.

Rivian R1T spotted on public roads once again prior to launch

The portion of the documents that outlines the “Significant Projects” in the town of Normal is predominantly comprised of Rivian’s construction efforts at the facility. A breakdown of Rivian’s construction progress is as follows:

301 Kerrick Road

Rivian Lease Buildout – Framing & Roughs

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100 Rivian Parkway

Main Entry Renovation – In Progress

Cable Tray Structural – In Progress

Start Me Up Offices – In Progress

North EOL Addition – In Progress

Skateboard Addition – In Progress

North Body Addition – Foundation Work

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Cafeteria Remodel – In Progress

S17 Equipment Mezzanine – In Progress

Teams Room #3 – In Progress

Equipment Mezzanines – Foundations & Framing

Battery Mezzanine – Foundations & Framing

100 Rivian Motorway

Paint Shop Lab – Temporary Occupancy

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Stamping/Final Assembly – Temporary Occupancy

Final Assembly Floor R1 – In Progress

Phase II Team Rooms, Paint Shop – In Progress

South End Plant Additions – Temporary Occupancy

West Plant Addition – Interior Buildout

2460 Electric Avenue

Service Station Building – In Progress

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Vibration Test Lab Addition – Temporary Occupancy

2601 W. College Avenue

Warehouse Remodel – In Progress

Additionally, Rivian also recently submitted two new projects for 100 Rivian Parkway for Outbound Logistics and Phase 3-5 Team Rooms. Rivian was also granted three “Significant Construction Permits for the Month,” two at 100 Rivian Parkway ((Equipment Mezzanines – $11 million, Battery Mezzanine – $463k) and one at 301 Kerrick Road (Rivian Lease Buildout – $1.5 million).

It is worth noting that Rivian’s production facility has been under construction for several years, and was still being completed internally in April 2020, when the company broke the news regarding production delays. Luckily, the company has plenty of financial backing and recently rounded out a $2.65 billion investment round. Rivian recently announced it has partnered with Meridian Audio, and the R1T has been spotted several times in public ahead of initial production.

Documents regarding Rivian’s production facility are available below.

Rivian Normal Il Report February 2021 by Joey Klender on Scribd

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Joey has been a journalist covering electric mobility at TESLARATI since August 2019. In his spare time, Joey is playing golf, watching MMA, or cheering on any of his favorite sports teams, including the Baltimore Ravens and Orioles, Miami Heat, Washington Capitals, and Penn State Nittany Lions. You can get in touch with joey at joey@teslarati.com. He is also on X @KlenderJoey. If you're looking for great Tesla accessories, check out shop.teslarati.com

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Tesla’s mirrorless Cybercab will give riders a visibility upgrade

Tesla engineer confirms Cybercab update letting riders pull up rear and repeater cameras on demand.

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Tesla Cybercab camera visibility for passengers (Credit: Dan Burkland via X)
Tesla Cybercab camera visibility for passengers (Credit: Dan Burkland via X)

Tesla is working on a Cybercab update that would let passengers pull up the vehicle’s rear and side cameras on demand, and the request came straight from a rider.

The exchange played out on X late Friday. Cybercab rider Dan Burkland shared photos of the two-seater’s cabin screen after an evening ride, praised the UI team’s work, and left one request: let riders open the rear and repeater cameras whenever they want, “especially for peace of mind.” Tesla UI software engineer Evan (@CarCoder) answered with two words: “In development.”

The idea fits a pattern Teslarati has tracked since public rides began. Days after paid Cybercab service opened in Austin, Tesla sent riders a survey that asked them to rate the touchscreen, the app and the cabin, and to pick the features they wanted most. We reported on that survey in September, and a camera view is the kind of small software change Tesla can push quickly if riders keep asking.

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It also speaks to something unique about the vehicle. With no steering wheel, no pedals and no driver, passengers have no mirror to check and no way to see behind them. The hardware is clearly built for camera awareness, from the repeater cameras to the rear camera. Letting a passenger look through those same cameras would give a nervous first time rider a way to confirm what is around the car.

The timing matters because the fleet is growing fast. Tesla’s Robotaxi account said on Saturday that more than 300 Cybercabs are now serving Austin, an eightfold increase in 30 days, and Tesla AI chief Ashok Elluswamy named Dallas as the next city. More cars and more cities mean more people riding in a driverless vehicle for the first time, which is exactly when small trust features carry weight.

For now, the feature is confirmed only as in development. If Tesla follows its usual pattern with Cybercab software, riders could see it appear in a point release without any announcement, and Teslarati will watch for it.

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Tesla’s Cybercab fleet jumped 8x in a month, with Dallas up next

Tesla confirms its first official Cybercab fleet number as Austin scales fast and Dallas looms.

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Tesla says more than 300 Cybercabs are now serving Austin, the first time the company has put an official number on its active Cybercab fleet. The figure came from the Robotaxi account on X on Saturday, which wrote that one month after launch the service had “scaled to 300+ Cybercabs serving Austin – an 8x increase in 30 days.”

Ashok Elluswamy, Tesla’s head of AI software, quoted the post with a line that carried the bigger news. “Two years since the 10/10 Cybercab WeRobot event, the cabs are everywhere in Austin now. Dallas soon,” he wrote. It is the first time Tesla has named the next city for public Cybercab rides.

Tesla opened Cybercab rides to the public in Austin on September 4, as Teslarati reported, a day after an invite only launch event. The ramp since then has been steep. Our September 28 report had the fleet at well over 100 units after availability jumped from 58 to 125 in a single week. On Thursday, Tesla added 150 Cybercabs to the Texas automated vehicle registry, lifting its registered count to 319 from 169. The first seven appeared on the registry on August 31.

RobotaxiTracker, a community site that counts vehicles from sightings and state records, listed 275 vehicles in unsupervised service in Austin on Saturday, 105 of them Cybercabs, which is well below Tesla’s figure. Tracker counts can lag official numbers, though Sawyer Merritt noted that Cybercab wait times in Austin stayed short on Saturday evening even with more than 2,000 fans in town for X Takeover.

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Regulators are watching the rollout. NHTSA opened an audit query into Tesla’s certification that the Cybercab meets federal safety standards, and sworn answers are due October 30. Tesla reports third quarter earnings on October 21, which gives the company a natural venue to define its fleet numbers and put a date on Dallas.

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Elon Musk

Elon Musk roasts India’s billionaire Mukesh Ambani as Starlink fight heats up

Elon Musk sarcastically calls Mukesh Ambani ‘Prime Minister’ as the Starlink India standoff escalates again.

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Elon Musk escalated his public fight over Starlink’s launch in India on Friday, addressing Reliance chairman Mukesh Ambani as “Prime Minister Ambani” in a sarcastic post on X. “Please accept my humble apologies for not realizing that you are the real boss of India,” Musk wrote, before accusing Ambani of “monopolistic exploitation” and asking whether he would “consider allowing Starlink to compete.” In follow up posts, he said Starlink has proven essential during natural disasters and would help parts of India with no internet access.

The post came two days into a fight that Musk sparked up on Wednesday, when he said Starlink was “being blocked by certain oligarchs in order to maintain their monopolistic chokehold on the Indian people.” He called it “a crime against the people of India” and left the names out, adding only, “You can guess who they are.” Jio and Airtel together hold more than 80% of India’s telecom market. On Thursday, Musk asked whether Ambani is “the real boss of India” and said Starlink has spent five years complying with “every single law and requirement” of the Indian government.

India’s government has pushed back each time. The Ministry of Communications called the suggestion that its framework is unfair or discriminatory “baseless and misconceived.” Communications Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia said Friday that three companies hold satcom licenses: Starlink, Jio Satellite Communications, and Bharti backed Eutelsat OneWeb. Amazon’s Kuiper, now Amazon Leo, is still going through the process. None can launch until regulators finalize satellite spectrum pricing and the Home Ministry signs off on each company’s security compliance. Scindia said the telecom regulator and the Department of Telecommunications are close to a decision on pricing, The Hindu reported. Bharti chairman Sunil Mittal also said OneWeb is still waiting on approvals.

Starlink received its operator license in 2025 after a three year wait, and the space regulator IN-SPACe granted what industry executives called the last approval needed in July. The holdup since then centers on security, particularly concern that foreign operators could bypass Indian gateways.

Musk and Ambani have been on opposite sides of this before. In late 2024, Ambani argued for auctioning satellite spectrum, which Musk criticized as out of step with the rest of the world, and India chose administrative allocation instead. By March 2025, the two sides had signed a deal to sell Starlink devices in Reliance stores, and Starlink secured its telecom license that June. That partner is now also a competitor. Jio is reportedly weighing a constellation of 1,600 to 1,650 satellites costing an estimated $10 billion to $15 billion, while Akash Ambani has told shareholders Jio plans to lease capacity from global providers to move quickly.

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