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.

Jose Castillo Founder and Editor

Jose Castillo is the founder of RivianTrackr and has owned and driven Rivians since early in the brand's consumer history. He currently drives an R1S and an R2 in Florida and uses Universal Hands-Free every day. As a credentialed Rivian journalist, he has covered the R2 First Drive in Park City and SXSW firsthand and has spoken directly with Rivian's software and autonomy leadership.

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