Rivian says other automakers are ‘knocking on the door’ about VW joint venture technology

By Abhirup Roy

PALO ALTO, California (Reuters) – A joint venture between U.S. electric truck and SUV maker Rivian and Volkswagen is in talks with other automakers about supplying its software and electrical architecture, a top Rivian executive said on Thursday.

The German automaker agreed in November to invest $5.8 billion in the joint venture, which will integrate advanced electrical infrastructure and software technology from Rivian for both companies’ future electric vehicles.

While a joint venture will give Rivian higher volumes to negotiate better deals with suppliers and reduce costs – something seen as critical amid a slowdown in demand for electric vehicles – Volkswagen and potentially other traditional automakers will gain quick access and easy to technology and software for those who have struggled to build. years.

“I would say a lot of other OEMs are knocking on our door,” Rivian chief software officer Wassym Bensaid said in an interview, referring to OEMs, a phrase used to describe vehicle manufacturers.

Bensaid, who is also co-CEO of the joint venture, declined to provide names of interested automakers and details about what stage talks were at.

Rivian’s architecture requires fewer electronic control units and much less wiring, reducing vehicle weight and simplifying manufacturing. The technology is critical to making cars with software that could be updated over the air like a smartphone, what the industry calls “software-defined vehicles,” an area where established automakers still lag behind.

“There is demand,” Bensaid said, adding that the priority through 2027 was to launch the R2, Rivian’s smallest and least expensive SUV, and integrate the technology into other Volkswagen brands. “Obviously other OEMs are talking to us and we’re trying to figure out how to support it in the future.”

“Any other OEM that wants to make a leap from a technological point of view, the joint venture today becomes one of the key partners with which they can carry out that collaboration,” he said.

The company is likely to become the platform of choice in the Western world apart from Tesla, analysts at Canaccord Genuity said in a note. The joint venture also helps alleviate “a significant portion of the capital concern” for Rivian, the analysts said.

(Reporting by Abhirup Roy in Palo Alto, California, and Arsheeya Bajwa in Bengaluru; Editing by Peter Henderson and Jamie Freed)