Shares in Rivian (RIVN) climbed as high as 18% on Friday morning as analysts started to weigh its first Autonomy & AI Day event. Hype around the stock is higher as the company disclosed its own custom chip, a new vehicle computer, and AI models with the end goal of integrating self-driving features into its future vehicles. The arrival of Rivian to the autonomous vehicle industry has led to hype of it having robotaxi capabilities and competing with Elon Musk’s Tesla (TSLA).
Rivian said Thursday it will soon issue an update to its second-generation R1 vehicles that will expand the ability for hands-off driving to more than 3.5 million miles of roads in the U.S. and Canada, compared to under 150,000 miles previously. That would bring Rivian closer to Tesla’s (TSLA) base Autopilot system in covering most roads in the U.S., Barclays analysts said in a note following the event.
The bullish note on Rivian’s autonomous driving and robotaxi potential also prompted Wall Street to revise its RIVN stock forecast. “RIVN signaled a shift from an [automaker] adopting autonomy to one leveraging AI to build end-to-end autonomy,” Needham analyst Chris Pierce said in a Friday investor note. “We attended Rivian’s Autonomy & AI Day yesterday in Palo Alto and came away mostly impressed with the strategic direction outlined by management,” Deutsche Bank analyst Edison Yu said Friday in an investor note. “However, the stock’s weakness seems warranted given the run-up since earnings and lack of a major AI partnership/deal announcement.” Pierce went on to raise his RIVN price target by over 64% from $14 to $23 per share, praising the company’s progress across its tech roadmap.
While still well off their highs in 2021, Rivian shares have climbed close to 40% in 2025, outpacing the S&P 500’s 16% gain. RIVN is trading near the top of its 52-week range and above its 200-day simple moving average.