Rivian on Wednesday announced the acquisition of Swedish mapping company Itternio, the developer of the EV trip planning app A Better Routeplanner.
The app, which allows electric vehicle drivers to plan routes in conjunction with charging stops, will be maintained as a standalone feature for electric vehicle drivers, but its core features will be integrated. with Rivian’s in-car navigation system and mobile app, according to the company’s press release.
2023 Rivius R1S
“A Better Routeplanner leads the way in tram trip planning and is an important platform for electric vehicle adoption,” Rivian CEO RJ Scaringe said in a statement.
However, Rivian drivers will soon have A Better Routeplanner features built-in. The upcoming software release will add the ability to plan trips based on the charging network and the range on arrival, the release said. Drivers will also be able to use the Rivian app to plan a trip from home and send information to their car’s navigation system.
Rivian R1S 2022
These features can be added to existing vehicles online and will likely be available from the start on the Rivian R2, the smaller, cheaper model that will be the follow-up to the Rivian R1T pickup truck and SUV R1S. Rivian CFO Claire McDonough confirmed this week that R2 will be revealed in 2024 and will target the $40,000 to $60,000 price range as the automaker aims to expand the market.
Rivian this week also confirmed the plan via Tesla charging port, also known as the North American Charging Standard (NACS). The automaker did not confirm when it plans to start building vehicles with the Tesla connector or whether it will ditch the Combined Charging Standard (CCS) port, but said access to the Tesla network Supercharger can happen (possibly with adapters) as soon as spring. 2024. It now looks like it will be easier for Rivian drivers to find those Supercharger sites.
