Rivian has admitted to the concern of respecting brand identity through its partnerships with other brands, namely Volkswagen Group, with which it is co-developing software.
Volkswagen will use the EV maker’s zonal architecture and software platform for its future electric vehicles. In return, the German automaker has invested $5.8 billion in Rivian.
The Scalable Systems Platform (SSP) is expected to be used on up to 30 million vehicles across multiple brands and price segments of the Group.
In a new interview with Edmunds, published on Monday, Rivian‘s Chief Design Officer Jeff Hammoud highlighted the challenge of its shared technology being expressed differently when its about Rivian or other brands.
Hammoud suggested, “You could say, ‘Well they’re just sharing the underlying architecture,'” and added, “but look at companies like Google, where you have examples of Android in many different platforms.”
To the executive, the underlying question is: “How do you create some of that, and what does it mean to aid in the design of that?”
“We wouldn’t want a Rivian to feel like a Porsche or a Volkswagen or an Audi, or vice versa,” Hammoud stated, remaining cautious on the technology deployment, as he noted that “depending on how you skin it and how you change it, it can really change the experience.”
However, “that goes into more of a discussion of how does Rivian, as a brand, say, ‘Actually, this is something we’re happy with sharing.’ Where, in contrast, this is ours.”
Rivian’s Take on the Partnership
For instance, as the company revealed new details on its Autonomy platform on December 11, it clarified that these upgrades would not be part of its software partnership with Volkswagen Group.
Last week, speaking with Stratchery, the company’s founder and CEO RJ Scaringe said that Volkswagen is “the ideal first customer” for Rivian’s ambitious of licensing its software to other OEMs.
Scaringe described VW as a company that “spans very premium brands, like Porsche, down to one of the products that’s been announced that we’re doing together, the Volkswagen ID.1, which is a $22,000 EV.”
To the chief executive, this partnership is “the existing proof” that Rivian can work across “large ranges of price and product features” and “very different vehicle form factores.”
“And if you’re another car company, you couldn’t look at Rivian and say— maybe before you could have, but now you couldn’t— ‘Well, I don’t think you could do this at this price point’,” he stated, adding that, “Well, actually we cover every price point across the spectrum.”
Rivian, up until now a premium EV brand, is also expanding its lineup to include a more affordable SUV, as the upcoming R2 will have an entry-level trim priced at $45,000.
Volkswagen’s View
The R2 SUV will be the first vehicle to test the architecture developed by ‘RV Tech’ — as the Rivian and Volkswagen Group Technologies joint venture is referred to.
Then, Volkswagen brands will be able to integrate and adapt it for their own models.
Earlier this year, German outlet Manager Magazin reported that the relationship between the two companies suffered potential friction, with Volkswagen’s brands wanting greater room for customization, while Rivian favors keeping the software simple and uniform.
A month later, Volkswagen brand’s Kai Grünitz, a Member of the Board of Management responsible for Technical Development, characterized Rivian as “a small company with just one project in one region, coming together with a group of 10 different brands from all over the world.”
While praising certain aspects of Rivian‘s approach, Grünitz was frank about its limitations.
“Their software is not perfect,” he acknowledged, “but it’s a really good starting point.”
Progress on Software Development
As the joint venture completed its one-year anniversary last month, the two companies provided key updates on upcoming software tests.
According to the German Group, fully electric models from its brands Volkswagen, Audi, and Scout Motors will begin winter testing in the first quarter of 2026.
Volkswagen also revealed that engineering prototypes of the ID.1 are already undergoing testing at RV Tech’s facilities in Palo Alto and Irvine, California.
Production of the ID.1 is expected to begin in 2027, and the model will be the first to include Rivian‘s software stack outside of the EV maker’s lineup.
