RJ Scaringe Confirms Universal Hands Free on Gen 2 R1 Before Autonomy Day

RJ Scaringe just dropped a pretty huge nugget during his Fireside Chat at Actuate 2025, and it could not have come at a better time with Rivian’s first Autonomy Day right around the corner on December 11. He confirmed that he recently spent two full hours driving, or really not driving, a Gen 2 R1 around the Palo Alto area while the vehicle handled everything on its own. He described it as Universal Hands Free, which is basically Rivian’s version of what most people think of when they hear Tesla’s Full Self Driving.

This is the strongest public confirmation we have gotten so far that Rivian is pushing deeper into high level autonomy on the R1 platform, not just incremental driver assistance. Hearing RJ say that the system managed the entire route by itself is a massive signal that Rivian is getting ready to show something real and not just roadmap slides.

With Autonomy Day coming up, confidence feels high that Rivian is planning to pull the curtain back. The timing lines up perfectly and this tease feels intentional. RivianTrackr will be there in person to cover everything as it happens, every demo, every announcement, and every detail they share about where this Universal Hands Free system is headed.

If you want to watch the full Fireside Chat for yourself, you can check it out here on YouTube.