Rivian’s three way partnership with the Volkswagen Group is not simply growing the underlying tech for upcoming Rivians, Audis and Porsches. The agency sees a future in promoting its electrical architectures to different automobile firms.
“We’re fixing an issue not just for Rivian and VW, however we’re fixing an issue for the bigger automotive business,” Wassym Bensaid, Rivian’s chief software program officer and a co-head of the three way partnership, instructed reporters on Wednesday. “And that might develop into mainly a chance for the standard know-how stack that others can use as properly.”
RV Tech’s leaders are specializing in the R2 and their first VW fashions earlier than turning their consideration outward.
Picture by: Rivian
Rivian and Volkswagen Group Applied sciences—RV Tech for brief—is engaged on superior computing and software program platforms that might be shared throughout each firms. The California-based EV startup will get $5.8 billion in much-needed funding from VW and cheaper electronics due to the German large’s huge scale. In alternate, Volkswagen will get fancy new “zonal architectures” for all of its upcoming electrical automobiles throughout manufacturers from Skôda to Lamborghini.
These programs of high-powered computer systems and the software program that ties every little thing collectively ought to enable for richer software program options and higher software program updates. However every little thing moreover the foundational programs—like autonomous driving options or consumer interfaces—will should be added on by every model.
The 2 firms’ $5.8 billion deal offers Rivian a monetary runway and VW entry to cutting-edge underlying automobile know-how.
Picture by: Rivian
The JV’s leaders assume different producers will line up for entry, too, now that automobiles have gotten more and more technology-defined. “On the one hand, software program is important. However software program is tough,” Bensaid stated.
Certainly, whereas your complete auto business has set its sights on seamless and extremely linked “smartphones on wheels” for years, lots of these efforts have been fraught and slow-going. (Even Rivian and Tesla have had their struggles with software program bugs.)
Bensaid stated that RV Tech might sometime present the “reference working system for your complete auto business,” which automobile firms might construct their automobiles and digital experiences round. Similar to how Google distributes Android to plenty of smartphone producers, he stated, RV Tech might license out the computing and software program spine of electrical automobiles.
He stated licensing out know-how is “a really totally different ball sport and a really totally different margin profile, from enterprise standpoint, than making automobiles.” Rivian has but to show a revenue, and constructing automobiles is a low-margin enterprise even for essentially the most established firms. Fellow EV startup Lucid Motors can also be eyeing the provider enterprise, aiming to license out its extremely environment friendly drivetrains to different firms, beginning with Aston Martin.
For now, RV Tech is concentrated on executing on the R2, Rivian’s $45,000 mass-market crossover coming subsequent 12 months, together with the primary few VW Group diversifications. These embrace a small VW hatchback, an Audi and automobiles from Scout Motors. Nevertheless it’s protecting one eye on the long run too, sustaining a “connection” with different producers and ensuring that what it is growing now might be tailored to automobiles from different firms.
“So actually constructing the foundations from an structure standpoint for an answer that may be simply customizable, that may be simply expandable, in order that it is prepared as soon as we’ve got bandwidth to go and really work on these third-party OEM alternatives,” Bensaid stated, referring to unique tools producers, which is business lingo for carmakers.
Rivals aren’t sitting nonetheless, and plenty of are making headway on their very own extra superior computing platforms. They could very properly favor to maintain issues in-house, if they will swing it. In spite of everything, that vertical integration is what gave Rivian this head begin within the first place.
However seeing Rivian-powered VWs on the street might change their minds. The primary VW Group automobile to showcase the fruits of the JV would be the manufacturing automobile primarily based on the ID.Every1 idea, which launches in 2027 for 20,000 euros.
Contact the writer: Tim.Levin@InsideEVs.com
