Rivian exec confirms its software will form the basis of Volkswagen EVs, following joint venture

In an interview with Yahoo Finance, Wassym Bensaid, Rivian’s chief software officer announced that future Volkswagen EVs will incorporate Rivian’s software, including zonal architecture.

Volkswagen has made several inroads into localising the architecture required for EVs based on the target market – VW China, for example, has set up a subsidiary of the Cariad, VW’s software arm, in China to leverage local knowledge in the face of a competitive domestic market. For the US, Cariad has been reinforced through a joint venture with Rivian, announced last July. Volkswagen initially invested $1 billion into the California-based EV company, with a further $4 billion available provided milestones were hit. In return, Volkswagen would receive certain IP rights and EV software expertise. Rivian has used this capital influx to begin scaling up operations ahead of the launch of its new R2 SUV, including beginning to develop a supplier park next to its Illinois plant.

Bensaid alluded to the expertise exchange being integral to VW’s US EV plans going forward – he commented that Rivian’s R2 will be “the platform that will underpin actually all future EV products at VW.”

In addition to being chief software officer, Bensaid is also co-CEO of the joint venture. In the interview, he pointed to the importance of the “end-to-end user experience” in software-defined vehicles as being integral to their success. The JV allows both companies to leverage Rivian’s presence in that space, as Bensaid added that “it’s really that modular, scalable technology stack that we will take into VW brands.”

It is unconfirmed if this will be the case for the other companies that form the Volkswagen Group, but Bensaid added that “Each brand will have their own UI, look and feel. Each brand will have their own suspension tuning… but underneath the guts of the vehicle will be optimised based on the same technology and software architecture.”