Rivian owners sue over false promises on self-driving features

Rivian has been sued over allegations that the EV maker made false claims about the autonomous driving capabilities of its R1T truck and R1S SUV models. The class action complaint, which was filed Wednesday in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, focuses on the first-generation models of the R1T and R1S and claims that Rivian represented that these flagship vehicles would be capable of hands-free, eyes-off driving. This kind of capability is also called Level 3 autonomy, a designation by the Society of Automobile Engineers (SAE) that means the vehicle can automatically handle steering, acceleration, and braking without the driver’s hands on the wheel or eyes on the road in certain conditions such as highways or at low speeds. This doesn’t mean these vehicles are fully autonomous; the human driver is still expected to stay attentive and take over when necessary. The lawsuit alleges Rivian falsely promised, over a five-year period and through a coordinated nationwide marketing campaign, that it would make its hands-free driver assistance system — known as Driver+ — standard in every vehicle it builds. Among the appearances cited in the suit: Rivian CEO RJ Scaringe’s appearance at TechCrunch Disrupt 2022, where he reportedly made representations about the company’s autonomous driving ambitions. “No software update — no matter how sophisticated — will enable its Gen 1 Vehicles to perform as advertised,” the complaint reads. …