Rivian’s AI-powered voice assistant is ready to roll

Rivian’s AI-powered voice assistant is rolling out today to the company’s vehicle fleet. The assistant will be available through a software update to all compatible Rivian Gen 1 and Gen 2 vehicle owners who subscribe to the company’s Connect Plus cellular service, which costs $15 a month or $150 a year, or are in an active trial. First announced at last year’s AI and Autonomy Day , the Rivian Assistant is powered by the company’s Rivian Unified Intelligence, “a shared, multi-modal AI foundation” that is “interwoven” throughout the entire company. The assistant is deeply embedded in the vehicle’s operations, but will also pair with third-party apps like Google Calendar. Rivian has said that the assistant is designed in-house, but “augmented” by third-party models “for grounded data, natural conversation and powerful reasoning.” I got to test an early version of the Rivian Assistant last year . While sometimes a little slow to respond to queries, I thought range and breadth of what the assistant could handle was pretty impressive. It can be activated via the scroll wheel on the steering wheel or by simply saying “Hey Rivian.” In a demo, the assistant was shown to be able to read upcoming events in Google Calendar and modify them, such as rescheduling a meeting. …