Rivian CEO Says Car That Can’t Drive Itself Will Be ‘Inconceivable’

Rivian CEO RJ Scaringe said self-driving capabilities will be a “must-have” in a car in the “very near future.”

Speaking on a “No Priors” podcast interview released on Thursday, Scaringe talked about how autonomous cars would become the norm by the end of the decade.

“I think by 2030 it’ll be inconceivable to buy a car and not expect it to drive itself,” Scaringe said. “Maybe that’s sooner. We hope it’s sooner, we’re targeting a little sooner than that.”

He added that today, it is hard to imagine buying a car without airbags or air conditioning, which “at one moment in time were optional.”

“I think in not too much time, a couple of years, it’ll be hard to conceive of buying a car that can’t drop you at the airport or pick up your kids from school,” Scaringe said.

Scaringe previously said that, beyond just being able to drive themselves, autonomous vehicles should progress to a point where they can run errands, such as getting items from the store or ordering spare car parts.

Rivian is one of the handful of US-based automakers making inroads into the self-driving vehicle space, along with Tesla, Alphabet’s Waymo, and Ford. They face strong competition in markets outside the US, where Chinese competitors like BYD, XPeng, and Baidu have gained market share.

Rivian, based in Irvine, California, is expected to start delivering its R2 SUV later in the year. This model is its cheapest EV to date, priced at $45,000.

Rivian released earnings on Thursday, reporting a full-year 2025 revenue of $5.39 billion, which was an 8% increase from 2024. The company said in the earnings report that it had delivered 42,247 vehicles to customers in 2025.

The company’s stock price dropped 5% after earnings but rose about 15% in after-hours trading. It’s up about 12% in the past year.