Rivian is valued at $7 billion, and has not shipped a product ever? Crazy.
[0] https://techcrunch.com/2018/07/11/att-takes-strategic-stake-...
As with Tesla, Rivian is being judged by its hoped future successes, not its actual track record to date.
Safety features can also be considered a convenience, but that doesn't mean they aren't safety features.
Humans zone out, they get tired, they have slow reaction times, they only have 2 eyes, they get complacent. Computers do not.
There's not nearly enough data to make a claim like that.
(NB: I own a Tesla Model 3 and have the various "self driving" options.)
I mean if you're right and reaction times are all that matter then we don't actually need self-driving cards for the safety benefits, just somewhat improved emergency collision avoidance/braking systems. Much easier problem to solve.
I get uneasy when I see a company without proven tech spend more time on marketing videos than showing off the car. If it works, where is the footage of it working up to par?
The reasoning is that there is very limited positive upside from showing off an ugly prototype with all its beta-testing flaws, but a huge potential for a bad demo to kill the market prospects for the model.
Concept: Might as well be cardboard cutouts. A physical representation of pie-in-the-sky design with little basis in reality. An example would be the VW ID Buggy.
Functional: Usually a Frankenstein vehicle cobbled together from catalog parts with intended purpose of vetting a design or idea. An example would be the EV and Hybrid variants of the Porsche 718 Boxster.
Manufacturing: Very close to the final production model but still with a few kinks. Examples would be the Honda e Prototype, or the Ford Mustang Shelby S560
Rivian doesn't give any clear indication of what they're showing off but want you to believe it's the later when it could be the former.
I just want more than an overhead shot of it driving through a forest with cuts every half second.
Rivian will be building products with Ford's assistance (and Ford will be building products using Rivian's tech). Ford has been building cars at scale for more than a century, and I'd bet a pretty penny that Rivian will take their advice on how to structure their manufacturing process.
Indeed, Gwynne Shotwell over at SpaceX shows what a Tesla without Musk would look like: functional, industry-leading, and with a history of actually reaching its goals on the timelines set forth.
Personally I think Musk is smart but highly overrated. He makes a lot of dumb mistakes by ignoring advice, and seems to have a lot of impulse control issues. As an ideas man he’s one of the best, but hike badly needs an “adult in the room” to moderate his worst impulses.