Rivian Owners Say Its Hands-Free Driving Is Miles Behind Tesla FSD, and Tesla Drivers Say They’ll Switch If Rivian’s Upcoming Demo Closes the Gap

We are less than a month away from finding out if Rivian truly has what it takes to survive.

On December 9, Rivian is streaming Autonomy & AI Day. This will feature Founder & CEO RJ Scaringe, SVP of Autonomy & AI James Philbin, and a few other speakers, discussing progress and plans for autonomy. There will even be product demos. And that hopefully means real, tangible technology, not useless showboating with toy cars.

I hate to say it, but Rivian’s future really rides on this presentation. With Tesla continuing to cancel its passenger vehicles to focus on its super underdeveloped and delayed Cybercab and Optimus robot, Rivian could step up with actual autonomous driving that finally gives drivers the experience that Elon Musk kept promising and never delivering.

Tesla has been promising autonomous driving for over 10 years now. His believers have sunk money into vehicles and Full Self-Driving subscriptions throughout that decade, thinking they would get autonomous driving. Musk finally admitted earlier this year that none of those vehicles ever had that capability. And never will. He said those suckers could, however, buy yet another vehicle that will eventually be autonomous.

For now, Tesla (including its pedal-less Cybercab) are equipped with Level 2+ driving assistance, which means you must have your hands on the wheel and eyes on the road the entire time. Despite this, Tesla has continued to tell elderly women and blind men to get behind the wheel of the Cybertruck. This continued exaggeration of Tesla’s FSD has led to crashes, possible deaths, and plenty of lawsuits and investigations. Some even believe Musk is trying to keep canceling his vehicles so he never has to offer autonomous driving after all. Which wouldn’t be surprising, since the rocket-powered flying Roadster is “invite only,” so he doesn’t have to actually make that work on a real car either.

Not that it has stopped him from trying to get people to keep buying FSD meanwhile.

Is Autonomy+ capable of replacing FSD?

But can Rivian really deliver where Tesla has failed?

Rivian currently has Autonomy+, which is “hands-free assisted driving” in areas where the lanes are “clearly marked.” Co-steering will adjust your lane positioning, lane change on command will find traffic gaps and change lanes for you, and it can even “match your mood” by changing driving styles, even getting “spicy.” It does this with 10 cameras and five radars, allowing the vehicle to spot and identify objects up to 1,000 feet away.

You’ll need to pay for Autonomy+. It’s $49.99 a month, or $2,500 up front.

Unfortunately, most EV enthusiasts don’t think it’s worth the money.

Said one Reddit user with an R1S and Model Y: “I’m not expecting it to drive me everywhere. My commute is overwhelmingly straightforward highway driving, which is exactly where I wanted it to be useful. Even with that limited expectation, the gap compared to FSD feels huge. I am surprised they charge for that POS service.”

Most comments agreed: Autonomy+ is miles ahead of the competition, aside from Tesla. Tesla is apparently life-changing and incredible. I mean, if you hate driving. And thinking.

Meanwhile, Rivian’s Autonomy+ can’t switch lanes to save its life. Plus, it’s barely been updated. It claims that auto-parking and on-ramp merging is coming “in 2026,” but that means we have like 1.5 months left to get it.

However, Autonomy+ just came out. Tesla’s FSD has been here for years and is nowhere near where Musk said it would be. We’ve only had Autonomy+ since February 2026.

Despite current frustrations, the EV community largely agrees that they hope Autonomy+ can improve significantly. If it gets better, a lot of drivers have admitted they will switch from Tesla and get a Rivian.

Said one X user: “If Rivian releases something on par with or better than Tesla’s FSD, I’d have one in my driveway.”

Added another: “If Rivian can come out with something remotely close to FSD, I’ll switch. I have 0 attachment to Tesla as a brand anymore.”

Therefore, December is huge for Rivian. If the presentation impresses EV drivers, it could let Rivian fill the void Tesla left after discontinuing its vehicles and falling short on its promises. Rivian could truly become the next big EV brand.

Of course, that’s if the presentation actually gives us hope.

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How do cameras and radar on Rivian's system differ from Tesla's vision-only setup?

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