On the grounds of the historic Griffith Observatory in Los Angeles on Monday night, Rivian, a US-based electric vehicle startup, unveiled its first vehicle to a small, quaint crowd. Food was served, and calming music befitting a Four Seasons Hotel serenaded members of the press and the event’s guests, which included social media influencers and even a number of celebrities from Hollywood. Amidst the chill vibe, though, a sense of excitement permeated the air, thanks to the centerpiece of the night’s event — a futuristic, rugged, vehicle that has the potential to disrupt the US’ highly lucrative pickup truck market.
The Rivian R1T, with its large off-road wheels, imposing stance, and adventure-themed design flourishes almost stood as a stark contrast to the unveiling’s quaint atmosphere. Quite unlike Tesla, whose unveiling events feature large numbers of people and a modern, high-energy setting, Rivian’s unveiling event for its R1T pickup truck was composed and almost restrained. The enthusiasm in the air, though, was palpable.
The R1T could be described as a luxury adventure vehicle. The pickup truck is designed from the ground up to be at home both on the pavement and off the beaten path, but the vehicle maintains an air of sophistication nonetheless. While Rivian did not allow test drives during the event, the truck on display was very well put together. It was evident that a lot of thought went into the vehicle’s interior design, from its luxurious seats, its all digital instrument panel, and its unique floormats which were made from a lightweight, thin material that almost seemed like carbon fiber.
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- Rivian CEO RJ Scaringe presents the R1T all-electric pickup truck. [Credit: Teslarati]
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- The Rivian R1T’s interior is plush with technology. [Credit: Teslarati]
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- The Rivian R1T features a functional bed with a number of clever features. [Credit: Teslarati]
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- The luxury aspect of the Rivian R1T is reflected in the vehicle’s seats, which are made of premium materials. [Credit: Teslarati]
Rivian unveils its R1T all-electric pickup truck. [Credit: Teslarati]
Speaking before an audience comprised mainly of Rivian employees, select media and even some A-list celebs, CEO RJ Scaringe presented the R1T’s key features and capabilities. Rivian confirmed that they are using 2170 battery cells for the R1T pickup truck and the R1S SUV, which is set to be unveiled on Tuesday. The company noted that it would not be producing its own batteries at this stage of its operations, though their long-term strategy also includes the possibility of establishing a dedicated battery manufacturing facility like Tesla’s Gigafactory 1. Rivian aims to be a battery manufacturer like Tesla eventually, and it aims to license and sell its cells to other manufacturers in the future.
There’s no question that the vehicle’s target demographic are buyers who love luxury and the outdoors. As such, we were impressed by some of the pickup truck’s features that are aimed at making the ownership experience effortless. Among these were its automatic liftgate, and a thin, black lining that automatically protects cargo on the bed with the press of a button. We also found some of the R1T’s quirks — such as headlights that double as a green progress bar when the vehicle is charging — clever and fun. Finally, we liked the vehicle’s storage options, from its “gear tunnel” to its 11.7 cubic foot (330 liter) frunk, which is larger than those found in other premium electric vehicles like the Tesla Model S and Model X.
Rivian noted that it intends to develop self-driving capabilities for the R1T. As such, the truck is equipped with the hardware necessary to make this a reality. These include a suite of cameras, ultrasonic sensors, radar, high-precision GPS technologies, and even a LiDAR. In the future, the company notes that the vehicle should be able to meet its driver at the end of a hiking trail or river run. The company did not provide details as to how it intends to accomplish this, though considering its focus on the outdoors, there is a good possibility that Rivian could be mapping popular trails across the country.
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- The Rivian R1T has a distinct front fascia. [Credit: Teslarati]
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- Rivian’s “skateboard” for the R1T, which holds the pickup truck’s 2170 battery modules. [Credit: Teslarati]
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- The Rivian R1T all-electric pickup truck has a seating capacity of 5. [Credit: Teslarati]
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- The Rivian R1T’s “gear tunnel,” which is specifically designed to store items like fishing roads and golf clubs. [Credit: Teslarati]
Rivian unveils its R1T all-electric pickup truck. [Credit: Teslarati]
After operating in stealth for the most part of the past decade, Rivian has decided to come out with a bang, renting out one of the most historic landmarks in LA to unveil a vehicle that could very well be equally historic if produced and ramped successfully. The R1T starts at $69,000 for its base trim, which is equipped with four electric motors and a 230+ mile range from its 105 kWh battery. The all-electric truck is still pricier than mainstays of the US’ pickup truck market such as the Ford F-150, which starts at a more affordable $29,650. That said, Rivian CEO RJ Scaringe made it clear that the company is going for a very specific niche with its first two vehicles — those that love the outdoors, and those that love luxury. For this niche of buyers, the Rivian R1T might just be the perfect vehicle.
Production of the Rivian R1T is expected to begin in 2020 in the company’s factory in Normal, Il, which it acquired from Mitsubishi in January 2017 for $16 million. The company plans to manufacture the pickup truck’s higher-end variants first, followed by the R1T’s $69,000 version within 12 months from the start of production. Rivian has also started accepting pre-orders for the R1T, with interested buyers being required to place a refundable deposit of $1,000 for the vehicle.
With assistance from Christian Prenzler.
Tesla’s two recently-defunct flagship models, the Model S and Model X, are getting a big upgrade, according to the company’s Head of AI, Ashok Elluswamy.
Older Hardware 3 Model S and Model X vehicles have been the last major holdouts in Tesla’s Full Self-Driving v14 Lite rollout, and that wait now appears to be ending.
Tesla brings closure to flagship ‘sentimental’ models, Musk confirms
At Tesla’s Cybercab launch, AI chief Ashok Elluswamy told Ryan McCaffrey that he thought the S and X build “was supposed to go out last week.” Evidently, Elluswamy expects the suite to be rolled out to those HW3 Model S and Model X very soon:
For my @Tesla friends – and specifically Model S & X owners with HW3 who are waiting on FSD v14 Lite – I spoke to @aelluswamy at the Cybercab launch, & when I asked for an ETA on v14 Lite for S/X owners, he said, “Oh, I thought it was supposed to go out last week.”
So: soon! 🙌
— Ryan McCaffrey (@DMC_Ryan) September 7, 2026
Those cars are not the current Model S and Model X, which already ship with Hardware 4. They are the pre-refresh flagships built around Tesla’s older Autopilot computer, often called HW3 or AI3.
Tesla stopped putting that computer in new vehicles years ago, which is why owners treat these S and X cars as a closed generation. Model 3 and Model Y vehicles on the same computer began receiving v14 Lite in late June 2026 and saw a wider North American expansion in July. South Korea followed as an early international market. The S and X versions of the same software never joined that wave.
v14 Lite is Tesla’s way of squeezing the current v14 driving stack onto hardware that cannot run the full AI 4 model. The company describes the process as distillation: behaviors learned on the newer computer, including reinforcement learning and offline models, are compressed so the older chip and cameras can use them as a guide.
Early descriptions put the distilled network at roughly 15 percent of the original size. The result is still supervised Level 2 driving. Tesla has been clear that HW3 cannot support unsupervised Full Self-Driving or robotaxi operation because of memory and bandwidth limits.
The feature list is what made the wait so frustrating for S and X owners, as plenty of new features are to be shipped with it.
Official notes for the first Lite build, firmware 2026.20.5.1, added parking, unparking, and reversing; arrival options for a parking lot, street, driveway, or curbside; speed profiles that stay available at all times; and start-from-park engagement. Tesla also claimed better handling of merges, forks, pedestrians, traffic lights, and cut-ins, plus fewer false slowdowns and smoother lane centering.
A mid-July follow-on build, 2026.20.6.10, added more of the Hardware 4 interface, including a standalone Self-Driving app and the ability to start a trip from Park without a brake-pedal confirmation.
Elluswamy called that version the one “likely going to wide release.”
That wide release already reached most other HW3 cars in the United States and Canada. International timing still depends on regional validation and regulatory approval. For S and X owners, the remaining work appears to be model-specific validation rather than a new software stack.
There is no official Tesla changelog or build number for those two models yet, only Elluswamy’s offhand timeline. Some HW3 drivers who already have Lite report large gains over v12.6; others have described new indecision or phantom braking. The next test will be whether the same software lands cleanly on the older flagships that have waited the longest.
Yesterday, we reported on Tesla Cybertruck getting some major adjustments from a manufacturing standpoint in an effort to make the all-electric pickup more cost-effective, more reliable, more serviceable, and more easily produced.
Tesla Cybertruck engineer reveals new changes in ‘constantly evolving’ pickup
One of those changes was the addition of a self-reinforcing polypropylene aero shield that sits underneath the truck. Previously, Tesla utilized aluminum for this, but the self-reinforcing polypropylene was more durable while also being cheaper and lighter.
Tesla has revealed another small change it made to the Cybertruck, and it has to do with the side repeater cameras.
Tesla does not wait for a new model year to improve its vehicles. On September 8, Cybertruck lead engineer Wes Morrill posted side-by-side photos of an updated side repeater camera housing now rolling off the line at Gigafactory Texas.
The triangular camera pod mounted on the front fender looks almost identical at first glance. A closer look reveals a revised contour that uses the air already flowing around the truck to keep the lens clearer in rain and road spray.
The side repeater camera was updated – the version on the left is the newer part which uses passive geometry to create airflow disturbance that better keep water off the lens while driving. No cost penalty, just pure vision improvement. pic.twitter.com/wAbXtcL1Jf
— Wes (@wmorrill3) September 8, 2026
The side repeater cameras sit in an exposed position on the Cybertruck’s angular stainless-steel body.
In wet weather, they readily collect water droplets that can degrade the image Autopilot and Full Self-Driving use for lane changes and blind-spot monitoring. Early production trucks sometimes left owners wiping lenses by hand or accepting temporary restrictions on driver-assistance features.
Tesla has added washers to cameras on certain other models and on Cybercab prototypes, but those active systems add cost, complexity, and extra potential leak points.
The new housing solves the problem with passive geometry. Subtle changes in the surround create localized airflow disturbances as the vehicle moves. Those eddies physically push water droplets away from the optical surface. Morrill called the result “pure vision improvement” achieved at “no cost penalty.” Once the production mold is updated, every subsequent part costs the same as the original.
The advantages compound quickly. Clearer cameras in rain improve the reliability of driver-assistance features precisely when they are needed most. The design consumes no extra energy and introduces no new failure modes.
New Cybertrucks built after the tooling changeover receive the updated part automatically. Some owners of trucks delivered as late as June 2026 have already confirmed they received the revised housing. Retrofit questions have appeared in replies, and the cameras appear electrically compatible, though Tesla has not announced an official service program.
A few millimeters of reshaped housing will not make headlines the way a new battery pack does, but these changes are incremental and increase the Cybertruck’s effectiveness as a vehicle over time.
This improvement illustrates how Tesla continues to refine the Cybertruck after volume production began. Better wet-weather vision, zero added cost, and no extra hardware add up to a meaningful gain in everyday usability and safety.
Tesla is rolling out a new version of its Full Self-Driving suite to some owners that comes with the massive addition of a safety feature.
Tesla is rolling out Automatic Collision Evasion with the 2026.27.6 Software Update, which started rolling out to some vehicles last night. We received the update, along with Full Self-Driving v14.3.9, as well as v14.2 Lite, which has identical release notes as the previous version and seems to have some refinements and improvements in behavior and performance.
🚨 Tesla FSD v14.3.9 is rolling out as well as 2026.27.6 which includes Automatic Collision Evasion
Brand new safety features from a software update. My Tesla gets better everytime I get one of these pic.twitter.com/ctrMiQXWhM
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) September 8, 2026
However, most of the attention has fallen on the Automatic Collision Evasion feature, which we covered in an article last week.
The function will activate Full Self-Driving to “try to keep your vehicle safe and then continue driving. It can engage in the following situations while you are driving manually:
- Scenario 1: A frontal collision is imminent and braking alone may not avoid it.
- Scenario 2: Your vehicle detects that you are not sufficiently attentive to the road (for example, reaching toward the back seat), or that Full Self-Driving (Supervised) may have been unintentionally disengaged.”
Essentially, FSD will take over when the vehicle determines you are not paying sufficient attention or are heading toward a potential collision. The addition of this feature is incredibly useful as distracted driving is a major issue in today’s world.
Along with the new safety feature is Tesla FSD v14.3.9, which has no additional release notes compared to the previous version, but in my first drives, my first impression is that operation is great, and parking is still sort of a pain point.
Just took a 15-mile round trip to the gym and back
Pretty on par with what FSD is nowadays – really good. Not enough time to see what’s good and what’s bad, but these first rides on any version feel shockingly good. They’re all pretty identical https://t.co/WN1qTg4bhE
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) September 9, 2026
Additionally, Tesla v14.2. Lite has arrived. A great review of that is available here:
— Zack (@BLKMDL3) September 9, 2026
The addition of an Automatic Collision Evasion feature is similar to that of other collision avoidance systems that are used by companies like Hyundai, Kia, and Genesis. These programs typically utilize radar and camera sensors to apply emergency brakes autonomously, though evasive steering in a manual driving mode is pioneered primarily by Tesla’s newest addition.
Tesla’s two defunct flagship models are getting a big upgrade
This tiny Tesla Cybertruck adjustment has big advantages
