Rivian’s Autonomy+ narrows the gap on Tesla’s hands-free driving, though Tesla still appears to lead, reporter test finds

Rivian Automotive is portraying its new Autonomy+ hands-free driving system as a more usable version of driver-assistance that can handle a wider range of real-world situations, and a fresh on-road comparison suggests Rivian is narrowing the perceived gap with Tesla. In a test described by CNBC auto reporter Michael Wayland, Rivian’s Autonomy+ was evaluated alongside Tesla, Inc.’s Full Self-Driving (Supervised), with driving performed over hundreds of miles.

Tesla’s system in the test was its Full Self-Driving (Supervised), which is designed for hands-free driving on supported roadways but still requires driver attention and supervision. Tesla has long marketed Full Self-Driving as a software package that can improve over time through updates, with the “supervised” framing reflecting that the driver remains responsible for monitoring the environment.

Rivian’s system was Autonomy+, a hands-free driving feature Rivian has been rolling out as a step beyond earlier driver-assist capabilities. In the comparison, Wayland described Rivian’s Autonomy+ as catching up in day-to-day drivability, implying that Rivian’s latest software can perform in a manner that looks increasingly similar to Tesla’s approach to hands-free driving.

Even with that progress, the reporter’s overall takeaway was that Tesla still leads. The article frames the comparison around whether each system is able to execute driving tasks smoothly and reliably in routine driving conditions, and concludes that Tesla’s capabilities remain ahead, even as Rivian’s new offering closes some of the distance.

The comparison matters because autonomy features are increasingly a competitive differentiator for automakers, especially those that monetize software through subscription pricing or bundled feature tiers. Hands-free driving capability can influence customer interest, reduce perceived friction in daily commuting, and become a benchmark in each company’s product messaging.

It is also a announcement to the broader market that the software “gap” in advanced driver assistance is not static. Rivian’s Autonomy+ is positioned as an incremental but meaningful evolution of its driving stack, while Tesla’s FSD (Supervised) is a continuously iterated platform. The direction of travel, as reflected in the test, is toward systems that can more often take over routine driving tasks without requiring constant driver intervention.

Still, the test description does not provide enough detail to independently verify performance metrics such as disengagement rates, miles per intervention, or specific scenario failure modes for either company. The article also does not spell out which road types, weather conditions, or geographic regions were used, nor does it disclose whether the vehicles were operating on identical hardware configurations and software versions. Those omissions limit how precisely readers can translate the comparison into quantified conclusions about real-world safety or reliability.

What to watch next is whether Rivian’s Autonomy+ expands to additional models and broader regions and how quickly it improves with software updates, and whether Tesla continues to maintain its lead in the scenarios that most often determine real-world usefulness. For investors and customers, the key question will be how consistently each system delivers hands-free driving across common routes, and whether those experiences persist as both companies push updates.