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Jose Castillo Founder and Editor
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Jose Castillo is the founder and editor of RivianTrackr, an independent publication he started to cover Rivian from an owner's point of view. He has followed the company since early in its consumer history and has owned and leased several Rivians over the years, including multiple R1T and R1S vehicles. Today he drives an R1S and an R2 in Florida and uses Universal Hands-Free for his daily driving.

Most of his coverage comes from firsthand access rather than press releases. He was at the R2 First Drive in Park City for hands-on time with the production R2 and RivianOS 2.0, and he reported from SXSW when Rivian revealed the full R2 lineup. He has spoken directly with Rivian leaders like Wassym Bensaid and James Philbin about where the company is taking its software and autonomy work.

Before RivianTrackr, Jose worked at Apple as a software developer, which is part of why he follows Rivian's software and autonomy side as closely as he does. He has also helped more than 400 people order their own Rivians through the site. The whole thing stays independent, written by an owner for other owners.

R1S Driving

The $130 Federal EV Fee Explained and How It Compares to Gas Tax

The House wants EV owners paying $130 a year to the feds, and after running it against what gas drivers actually put into the Highway Trust Fund, the number is more defensible than the reaction. The real problem isn't the size of the fee, it's that they made it flat, so the person babying their R1S around town pays exactly the same as the one stacking 25,000 miles a year.

R2 Launch Green

Rivian R2 AMA, Autonomy, Audio, Heat Pump and More 

Rivian's software and autonomy leads jumped into a Reddit AMA and ended up spilling more concrete R2 detail than we've gotten in a while. Wassym handled most of it, with James stepping in for the self driving questions. From point to point autonomy timelines and the edge compute bet to the heat pump, the charging mat retrofit, and why the premium audio actually works, here's everything worth knowing.

Rivian R2-D2

Rivian Just Quietly Dropped the R2 Self-Driving Roadmap We’ve Been Waiting For

Rivian's autonomy lead James jumped into today's R2 Reddit AMA and laid out the self-driving roadmap, and the big takeaway is that R2 Performance Launch Package buyers get Autonomy+ bundled in for the life of the car. He also broke down the point-to-point timeline, the stoplight and stop-sign updates coming in the next few months, and why Gen 1 owners shouldn't sweat the LiDAR question.

Rivian R2 Silver Prototype

R2 Gets a Heat Pump Across the Entire Lineup

Wassym confirmed R2 is getting a heat pump across the entire lineup, not just the top trim. The more interesting part is what Rivian built around it. A bigger compressor and a better battery-coolant handoff mean R2 can hold cabin comfort during a DC fast charge even in serious heat, which anyone who's sweated through a triple-digit charging session will appreciate.

R2 Interior Display

RivianOS 2.0 Coming to R2 at Launch, R1 Later This Year

RivianOS 2.0 is launching on R2 first, with R1 vehicles getting it later this year. Rivian's goal is one core operating system that feels the same across the lineup no matter how different the hardware is, which means R1 owners aren't getting left behind on an old build.

Rivian R2

Rivian R2 Configurator Is Live but You Cannot Build the Cheap One Yet

The R2 configurator is live and you can finally price one out, but the only trim you can build is the $57,990 Performance, and the roughly $45,000 R2 we were all sold on is nowhere on the page yet. Add in colors that mostly cost extra and a Performance that lands dollar for dollar with a Model Y Performance, and the attainable Rivian still feels like a future-tense thing.

Rivian R2 Glacier White Construction

Why Rivian Stock Keeps Falling Despite R2 Launch and Q1 Earnings Beat

R2 production officially started in April, Q1 came in ahead of estimates with a third straight quarter of positive gross profit, deliveries grew 20 percent year over year, and Volkswagen raised its stake to 15.9 percent. RIVN is down 31 percent on the year anyway. The gap between what Rivian is doing and what the market is pricing in has rarely been this wide.