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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.

Rivian Autonomy+ Co-Steer

Why Rivian’s AI-Defined Vehicle Push Actually Matters

Rivian's AI-defined vehicle framing sounded like marketing theater when Chief Software Officer Wassym Bensaid first dropped it on stage at Autonomy and AI Day back in December. Five months later, with Rivian Assistant actually shipping and a wider AI strategy coming into focus across voice, autonomy, and the Volkswagen joint venture, it's a lot harder to write off as buzzword theater.

R2 Cargo Cover

Rivian R2 Accessories at Launch, Pricing and What to Know

Rivian rolled out the full R2 accessory lineup alongside the configurator going live, with pricing now available for everything from the NACS Wall Charger to All-Weather Mats and Cargo Crossbars. Most of it is priced in line with the R1 side, but there is one compatibility detail R1 owners will want to know about before launch.

Rivian Assistant Messaging

Why Rivian Assistant Can’t Reply to Group Texts Over Bluetooth

If you've tried replying to a group text through Rivian Assistant and noticed the option just isn't there, you're not imagining it. Bluetooth messaging in the vehicle only supports one on one conversations, and it's a limitation that affects basically every car using Bluetooth for texts, Tesla included.

Mind Robotics

Mind Robotics Hits $1B Total Funding After New $400M Round

Mind Robotics just announced a $400 million round led by Kleiner Perkins, pushing the RJ Scaringe founded company past $1 billion in total funding in under a year. Rivian is a key partner and shareholder, and the Normal plant is essentially the live training environment for Mind's robots.

R2 Glacier White

Rivian R2 Customer Deliveries Are Days Away and the Real Test Starts Now

Customer R2 deliveries are about to start, and the next 30 days are going to tell us more about where Rivian is actually headed than anything that's been pitched on a stage in the past year. The marketing is done, production is rolling, and the story is about to shift from pricing and trims to what real ownership actually looks like. I've got an R2 coming too, so I'll be sharing the full experience here as it unfolds.