It's been a big month for Rivian.
Not only did the first production R1T electric ute drive off the line at its Illinois factory, but just this Wednesday another R1T prototype struck two parked cars in California in what seems to be its first public crash.
At such an important moment in the companies history, it's no surprise this has attracted a lot of attention and speculation.
In a statement to The Drive, Rivian confirmed the incident was the result of driver error. The company employee behind the wheel came out unscathed and says all safety systems "worked as intended."
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It looks as though the prototype R1T was headed south on a long, four-lane straight when it failed to navigate a 90-degree turn at the end of the street. It then plowed into an adjacent car park, forcing a Ford Explorer out of its parking space and into a Mercedes S-Class.
Whether "driver error" means excess speed or something else isn't clear. But we do know that a crash caused by a mechanical issue could have had major implications for the company with the coming roll out of the production R1T.
The interesting thing about this crash though, is that the company claims all safety systems "worked as intended." This is causing a bit of a stir because, as expected with any new release, the production Rivian has high standards on their big suite of driver-assistance and crash-prevention features and these features don't seem to have helped in this situation. Though admittedly, being a prototype, it is possible these features were not yet active.
While it's possible we'll never know the full story, for now we'll have to trust the one Rivian is telling: Driver error.
Let's hope for their sake it stays this way.