Rivian R2 spotted with LiDAR near HQ, looks better than most LiDARs

Rivian’s new R2 has been spotted near Rivian HQ sporting a LiDAR sensor, which won’t be included with the earliest vehicles but will be added in a few months. And the implementation actually looks pretty good, compared to the large “taxi bumps” present on many other vehicles.

Claims of future self-driving ability are all the rage in the automotive industry for quite some time now, a status quo that has perhaps only gotten more intense as AI buzzwords pervade every industry.

Every automaker has to have some sort of plan for driver-assist systems, and the more “tech-y” the automaker, the more all-encompassing those plans need to be.

And so, last December, we heard a lot about Rivian’s AI & Autonomy ambitions, including that the company would start including LiDAR on its then-upcoming R2 vehicle.

LiDAR is a technology that detects objects with lasers, creating a high-definition point cloud around the vehicle. Most observers think it will be necessary to support true autonomy, though that’s still up for some debate.

The R2 has since launched, with shipments starting on June 9. But as of yet, it doesn’t have LiDAR.

Rivian said the first few months of production won’t have LiDAR sensors. In the interest of getting the car out and getting much-needed revenue, launch vehicles will instead come with a “launch package” that includes an exclusive color, tow package, and lifetime subscription to Autonomy+, Rivian’s driver-assist software.

LiDAR is instead supposed to come to R2 vehicles in “late 2026,” which, depending on how you define it, could start as soon as… tomorrow. But, well, we figure “a few months” is a good bet here.

But now we’re seeing some indication of movement on that front, in the form of an uncamouflaged Rivian R2 parked near Rivian’s headquarters in Irvine, CA.

The photo was posted on reddit by user LawlessSpace, who says they “work nearby and see tons of goodies from the Rivian folks.” See it embedded below (or click through to the post):

What’s notable about the shot is what isn’t there. Not only is the car not camouflaged or wearing a wrap (like the prototypes we saw at Rivian AI Day), it’s also missing the “taxi bump” that is present on many LiDAR implementations.

Since LiDAR works by shooting lasers out the front of the vehicle, it needs a “window” to shoot those lasers out of. And putting it higher up in the vehicle gives better visibility. So there’s often a big bump above the windshield, which looks a little like the sign on a taxi cab.

The Rivian R2 has not only a narrower window but it doesn’t jut out over the windshield, instead fitting into the regular lines of the car. It’s an indentation which still looks a bit weird, but it’s not as jarring as the bumps on so many other cars.

We had already seen this at AI Day, but that R2 was a prototype, so there was no guarantee that the final implementation would look like that. Now we’re seeing it on an unwrapped, seemingly production vehicle, showing us that this looks like it’s probably the final implementation that Rivian will go with.

It also indicates that we’re getting close to availability. While “late 2026” was a bit of a noncommittal timeline, and we’re certainly accustomed to timelines being missed in the EV industry, if Rivian is already making cars with LiDAR included, it seems likely they’ll percolate out to customers on around the schedule that Rivian has stated.

Another thing to note is that Rivian sent out emails to reservation-holders today with approximate timelines for when they will be invited to order.

Those emails included this line: “R2 Performance with Launch Package will remain available for you until it’s your time to order,” which has led to speculation that those with late order windows might be able to get an R2 with both the Launch Package and LiDAR.

Previously, it had been assumed you could only get one or the other – that the Launch Package was somewhat of a compensation for LiDAR not being on the vehicle yet. That may still be the case, but Rivian’s email today adds an interesting wrinkle.