Rivian Accused Of Selling EVs With Self-Driving Tech It Couldn’t Deliver

Self-driving is Unavailable

According to a new class-action lawsuit against the American electric automaker, Rivian, three plaintiffs have come forth alleging that Rivian's vehicles haven't lived up to the promise of level 3 autonomy. The three customers have reportedly been misled into purchasing their Rivian vehicles with the promise of autonomous features that allegedly haven't been delivered and cannot be delivered.

For those who don't know, Level 3 Autonomy is known as "situational autonomy." Cars that are smart enough for this level will self-drive under certain circumstances, such as well-mapped highways. A level 3 system will "allow" users to avert their eyes from the road and remind them to remain attentive via prompts.

No Level 3 System

Rivian's marketing, from November 2018 to March 2023, advertised that the company's self-driving capabilities were "parallel to, if not better than" Tesla's self-driving system. This led to sales of the first-generation R1S and R1T models. The plaintiffs who purchased the 2022 to 2023 year model Rivians have now filed a class action suit because they still haven't received any level 3 autonomous driving features.

Michael J. Fritz, the California plaintiff, purchased a 2023 R1S in May 2023 for $97,000, and he says the car will receive Level 3 autonomous driving updates by the time of delivery or later over the air. The same goes for the Michigan plaintiff, Jason M. Cornellier, who also purchased a 2023 R1S in February of that year for more than $81,000. Again, level 3 self-driving was promised the same way. Finally, the Wisconsin plaintiff, Dean A. Swedberg, purchased a 2022 R1S in December of that year for more than $83,000, and he also says that his vehicle still hasn't received the level 3 autonomous driving system updates.

False Promises

According to the lawsuit, Rivian falsely promised that its Driver+ system would be standard in every vehicle that it builds. The brand ran a national marketing campaign that said this, and it is now being sued for it.

Allegedly, Rivian is guilty of years of false, deceptive, and misleading statements through its marketing campaign. The models include the R1T and the R1S. Further investigation reveals that the Gen 1 EVs under the R1T and R1S nameplates don't have the hardware to support level 3 autonomous driving features. The class action suit recognizes this and maintains that no software update will allow Rivian's first-generation R1T and R1S models to have the deceptively advertised features.

Rivian's campaign lasted for five years, according to the lawsuit, and it purportedly made misrepresentations that led people to buy their cars with the promise that self-driving would be part of the menu of features.

"All persons who purchased or leased a model year 2022-2024 Rivian R1T or R1S with “Driver+” or that was marketed as featuring Level 3 autonomy or hands-free driving capability at any time from October 1, 2021, through the present. This class is limited to those individuals who are not subject to Rivian’s arbitration agreement and class action waiver," the lawsuit reads.

Second and Third Generation Got Level 3

It's really only the first-generation R1 models that got the short end of the stick. The early believers and adopters of Rivian might have been short-changed by the fact that they're missing out on level 3 autonomous driving functionality.

Rivian's second wave of vehicles came in 2024, after the company decided to overhaul and improve its models through battery, software, and hardware upgrades, including more modern hardware that supports level 3 autonomous driving. The "Universal Hands-Free" driving feature was rolled out as an update for second-generation R1 models, an update that first-generation owners didn't get.

Now Rivian's facing legal trouble because it might have either jumped the gun or miscommunicated its first-generation autonomous driving system. At the time of writing, and according to other sources, the company has refused to comment on the matter and is going through the legal process.

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