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Can new automotive technology from an automotive giant with a troubled electric vehicle system and a startup struggling to fund its second act appeal to other companies? Rivian and Volkswagen want to find out.
Rivian and Volkswagen Group Technologies officially launched on November 13, the result of a $5.8 billion joint venture between the two companies that was first announced as a software deal in June. The goal is electrical architecture and software destined for a future generation of EV models from both companies. It paves the way for both small, less-expensive VWs and cheaper Rivian models. It also benefits VW’s off-road offshoot Scout Motors, which is expected to start selling a Rivian-like SUV and pickup truck with an EV-only version, and a gas-assisted range-extended EV by 2028.
The deal also connects Rivian with VW Group’s large network of suppliers for various parts. Rivian is aiming to lower the production costs of the existing R1S SUV and R1T pickup truck, build a plant in Georgia to complement its existing Illinois facility, and introduce the midsize R2 SUV next year as part of its plan to move into more mainstream vehicle segments and expand into Europe.
“The joint venture is rapidly developing the architecture for our future software-defined vehicles,” VW Group CEO Oliver Blume said Wednesday in a statement. “Every step toward achieving our ambitious goals is being executed with determination and clear focus. In close collaboration with our brands, a technological foundation has been created in just twelve months that will enable a new digital driving experience for our customers at accessible prices.”
To make the investment stretch further, however, the joint venture’s technology could be made available to other automakers. Rivian’s Chief Software Officer Wassym Bensaid said the platform under development for both automakers could work for more companies, according to InsideEVs.
While the electrical architecture will be powerful enough for the next-generation of EVs that are expected to make greater use of 800-volt systems that will charge more quickly, it will also be able to support more advanced driver assistant systems like Rivian’s Enhanced Driver Assist and future hands-free driving systems like General Motors’ SuperCruise. Licensing out the technology to other automakers planning more powerful gas-electric hybrids and faster-charging battery electric vehicles—both of which could make more extensive use of cameras, Lidar and other technologies—could be another revenue stream for Rivian and VW, according to the venture’s executives.
Rivian and CEO RJ Scaringe haven’t exactly been secretive about the company’s tenuous finances even before the cancellation of the federal EV tax credit became official at the end of September. It laid off 600 employees in October, the third round in 2025, and while deliveries in the third quarter of the year were up by more than 30%, the annual forecast was lowered to as little as 41,000 vehicles in 2025.
“With the changing operating backdrop, we had to rethink how we are scaling our go-to-market functions,” Scaringe wrote in a company email obtained by Reuters last month.
And the VW Group is hardly flush with cash, either, especially after the investment with Rivian. Tariffs, slumping EV sales in China and elsewhere and investments in electric cars and AI that haven’t paid off yet contributed to operating profits falling by a third in the first half of 2025. A plan to build a US factory for Audi to escape new tariffs on its most popular models made in Germany, Mexico and other countries also remains on the wish list while a multi-billion-dollar investment package is re-evaluated, even after another Audi plant in Belgium was closed in February.
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Zac Estrada
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