Rivian’s James Philbin Confirms Unmapped Roads Coming to Gen 2 Vehicles Later This Year

In RivianTrackr Hangouts Episode 2, I sat down with James Philbin, Rivian’s VP of Autonomy and AI, to talk about Rivian’s approach to autonomy, AI, and what’s coming next.

Recently, Rivian introduced Enhanced Highway Assist in their 2025.06 software update. This feature allows for hands-free driving on over 130,000 miles of mapped highways across the U.S. and Canada, utilizing Driver Attention Detection to ensure the driver remains attentive to the road.

During our conversation, James shared an exclusive update: support for unmapped roads is coming later this year for Gen 2 Rivian vehicles. This enhancement aims to extend autonomous driving capabilities beyond pre-mapped highways, offering drivers more flexibility in various driving environments. There’s no confirmation yet on Gen 1 support.

You can watch the full conversation here.