If you spend enough time in the EV world, someone will talk about A Better Routeplanner and how great it is for, you know, planning routes. With a lot of built-in trip planning solutions not yet up to snuff, A Better Routeplanner would often come in clutch for EV road trips.
Rivian, seeing an advantage, has announced that it is purchasing A Better Routeplanner and integrating it into its built-in navigation and route-planning software in its products.
Rivian’s CEO, RJ Scaringe, said this about the acquisition;
“A Better Routeplanner leads the way in EV trip planning and is an important platform for driving EV adoption, which is why it’s so important for us to keep the platform open for all. We will also be integrating ABRP’s capabilities into our upcoming trip planning release, giving Rivian drivers the ability to chart out detailed trips that include key aspects of EV ownership, such as when to charge, for how long, and adjusting how many miles of range they’d like when arriving at their destination. Beyond route planning, the data insights on where there is insufficient reliable charging will help us strategically plan where we prioritize building our Rivian Adventure Network.”
Rivian says that intends to keep A Better Routeplanner open for all EV drivers to use, which should help the industry as a whole and all drivers, even if they don’t drive a Rivian.
Direct investment from Rivian should let the software get even better, and if Rivian sticks to its commitment to making it available to all EV drivers, there isn’t much of a downside.
A Better Routeplanner will also be the source of Rivian route planning through the Rivian app on mobile devices, and already has a full database of Tesla Supercharger locations, meaning when the company adopts NACS in 2024, the software should already be good to go.
We look forward to trying this implementation out in the future.
