Rivian is dropping the full R2 reveal on March 12, and the very next day you can climb into one at SXSW and feel it tackle a custom off-road course firsthand. The Electric Joyride runs March 13 through 18 at the 800 Block of Congress in Austin, no reservation required.
Rivian is targeting 20,000 to 25,000 R2 deliveries in the first six months of production, which would make it one of the fastest EV launches in U.S. history. Only the Tesla Model Y got there quicker.
Rivian is back as the headline sponsor of SXSW 2026, and this year it's all about R2. From off-road passenger rides to panels with RJ Scaringe and Kara Swisher, here's everything happening at the Electric Roadhouse in Austin from March 13 through 18.
Rivian's R2 will be one of the first vehicles in the world to launch with GSMA SGP.32-enabled eSIM technology, partnering with Giesecke+Devrient and AT&T to build a 5G connectivity platform designed to scale globally without hardware changes.
Rivian has officially launched the Rivian Adventure Department, or RAD, its extreme testing and performance engineering team that feeds real world data directly into production vehicles. RAD Tuner, which debuted in December 2025 with update 2025.46 for Gen 2 Quad owners, is one of the clearest examples of that philosophy in action, and now the team is making its public debut at the 2026 FAT Ice Race in Big Sky, Montana with the new Quad R1S.
