Rivian wants to build its own lidar in the U.S.

Rivian’s new hobby: building the stuff it used to buy

Rivian CEO RJ Scaringe says the company is exploring a plan to make its own lidar sensors in the U.S., possibly through a joint venture or partnership. The big reason? Cheap, high-performing solid-state lidar is mostly coming out of China right now, and Rivian wants that tech without getting stuck paying premium prices forever.

Why this matters to your portfolio

If Rivian can keep lidar costs in the “low hundreds of dollars” range, that could make its autonomy stack a lot more practical on future vehicles like the upcoming R2. The company already has its own chip program rolling, so this isn’t just a random side quest — it’s part of Rivian trying to vertically integrate the whole self-driving playbook.

The Tesla comparison is the subtext

Scaringe said Rivian has been developing custom chips for a while, with the first one — RAP-1 — expected this year. That puts Rivian in the same “we’ll build the brains ourselves” lane Tesla has been driving in for years, except Rivian is trying to do it while also wrangling manufacturing, margins, and an EV market that still loves to test everyone’s patience.

Big picture

This isn’t a signed deal yet, so don’t treat it like revenue is magically arriving tomorrow. But it does tell you where Rivian’s head is: fewer dependencies, more proprietary tech, and a bigger bet that autonomy can be a real differentiator instead of a very expensive science project.