By Abhirup Roy
Palo Alto, California (Reuters)-A joint venture between the American manufacturer of electric pick-ups and SUV’s Rivian and Volkswagen is in conversation with other car manufacturers about delivering their software and electric architecture, said a senior Rivian manager on Thursday.
The German car manufacturer agreed in November to invest $ 5.8 billion in the joint venture, which will integrate advanced electrical infrastructure and Rivian software technology for the future electric vehicles of both companies.
While a Joint Venture Rivian will give higher volumes to negotiate better supplier agreements and to reduce costs, which is considered crucial to be in the midst of a delay in the demand for electric vehicles, Volkswagen and possibly other traditional car manufacturers will gain quickly and easy access To technology and software for which they have had difficulty building. year.
“I would say that many other OEMs come to us,” said Rivian Chief Software Officer Washing sympto in an interview, referring to Original Equipment Manufacturers, an expression used to describe car manufacturers.
Bensaid, who is also co-CEO of the joint venture, refused to give names of the interested car manufacturers and details about the stage in which the conversations were located.
Rivian’s architecture requires fewer electronic control units and considerably less wiring, which reduces the vehicle weight and the production is simplified. The technology is the core of building cars with software that can be updated via the Ether, such as a smartphone – which the industry calls ‘software -defined vehicles’, an area where established car manufacturers are still lagging behind.
“There is question,” said Bensaid, adding that the priority was until 2027 to roll out the R2, the smaller, cheaper SUV from Rivian, and integrate the technology into other Volkswagen brands. “It is clear that other OEMs talk to us and we try to find out how we can support that in the future.”
“Every other OEM who wants to make a leap from a technological point of view, today the joint venture becomes one of the most important partners with whom they can enter into collaboration,” he said.
The company will probably become the preferred platform in the Western world, apart from Tesla, said analysts of Canaccord Genuity in a note. The joint venture also helps to relieve “a considerable part of capital care” for Rivian, according to the analysts.
(Reporting by Abhirup Roy in Palo Alto, California, and Arsheeya Bajwa in Bengaluru; editors by Peter Henderson and Jamie Freed)