On this special episode of The InEVitable, we’re kicking off a new, hopefully recurring series of podcasts where we explore semi-autonomous driving systems—all while driving semi-autonomously. In this case, your humble author and co-host of the ’pod picked up MotorTrend technical director Frank Markus at Rivian’s Irvine, California, headquarters in MotorTrend’s Tesla Model Y, the day after he drove the all-new 2026 Rivian R2.
Aside from a couple of minutes of introduction, this 1 hour and 19 minute episode was recorded while the Tesla Model Y drove us around Orange County using the latest version (v14) of Tesla’s Full Self-Driving (Supervised) system. We put Frank behind the wheel because he’s based in Michigan and hasn’t had a ton of experience with Tesla FSD, particularly v14, which just picked up a MotorTrend 2026 Best Tech Award. Aside from one or two instances, Frank spent the entirety of his time in the driver’s seat, not actively driving.
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Ed Loh and Frank Markus (with executive video producer Brent Baer in the back) discuss Rivian R2 and Tesla FSD v14 while not driving a Tesla Model Y.
Instead, he told me all about his time with Rivian’s five-passenger, two-row, all-electric compact luxury SUV, which is the much anticipated follow-up to the larger R1T truck and R1S three-row SUV. While we review a fair amount of what he covered in his R2 write up and video, we also talk about R2 vs. Model Y, whether there is too much power and torque, off-roading in the new model, as well as whether we think Rivian has a hit on its hands (spoiler alert: we do).
2026 Rivian R2 off-roading in southern California.
We also spend a lot of time discussing the merits of Tesla FSD and whether its camera only (no radar, no lidar) approach is the right move for autonomous driving systems. This ’pod is a setup for an examination of future semi-autonomous driving systems from other car makers, in that we’re planning on (not) driving while we experience the system and talk about how it works.
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So yes, no Jonny this episode, but fear not, we’re doing a similar Tesla FSD drive with him very soon, and plan to do this all again (and again) with the production version of Mercedes-Benz’s Drive Assist Pro, Rivian’s new Autonomy Plus setup, as well as its coming Level 3 autonomous system, which is expected in late 2026 at the earliest.
Of course, you can watch the episode linked above or listen to it wherever you get your podcasts.
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