Rivian expects its software and services revenue to grow approximately 60% in 2026, Chief Financial Officer Claire McDonough said Thursday, as the EV maker increasingly relies on its Volkswagen Group joint venture and paid autonomy subscriptions to fund its path to profitability.
The guidance, disclosed at the Morgan Stanley Technology, Media & Telecom Conference, implies software and services revenue of approximately $2.5 billion this year.
The company founded and led by RJ Scaringe reported $1.56 billion in 2025 and $484 million in 2024.
“As we look at the year ahead, we anticipate the growth to begin to approach about 60%,” the CFO said said.
“And that’s driven both by the growth of the joint venture, but also importantly, as the car parc continues to grow and expand, we see a compounding of many of the other services within the portfolio,” McDonough added.
The segment has become Rivian‘s fastest-growing revenue line.
Software and services generated $576 million in gross profit in 2025, up from just $7 million a year earlier.
In the fourth quarter alone, the segment posted $179 million in gross profit on $447 million in revenue — a gross margin of approximately 40%.
By contrast, Rivian‘s automotive operations remained in the red, posting a $432 million gross loss for the full year of 2025, despite the improvement from a $1.2 billion automotive gross loss in 2024.
VW Payments
The joint venture with Volkswagen Group, formed in 2024 with a total deal size of up to $5.8 billion, accounts for the bulk of the software revenue growth.
Under the agreement, Rivian supplies VW with its electrical architecture and software technology stack for use across the German automaker’s future electric vehicles.
Rivian received an initial $1 billion convertible note in 2024 and another $1 billion payment in July 2025.
Earlier this week, Rivian’s CFO pushed back against reports of difficulties at the company’s software joint venture, saying the relationship is “very strong” and that the partnership is executing faster than the German giant could have managed alone.
McDonough said on Thursday at the conference that the EV maker anticipates receiving $2 billion from Volkswagen this year out of a total $2.5 billion in outstanding payments.
Approximately $1 billion of the 2026 payments is subject to the successful completion of winter testing, which is currently underway.
The remaining $1 billion consists of nonrecourse debt scheduled for receipt in October.
“The $5.8 billion joint venture that we did with Volkswagen Group and now the opportunity for us to potentially license autonomous hardware and software capabilities in addition to the electrical architecture and software to other OEMs across the industry” represents a key growth vector, McDonough said.
Autonomy+ Subscriptions
Beyond the VW joint venture, McDonough confirmed that Rivian will begin charging for its autonomous driving software in April, when the company launches paid subscriptions for its Autonomy+ offering.
“In April, we’ll start our paid subscriptions within the software and services component and see that as being a long-term catalyst for margin expansion opportunity for us as well,” she said.
Rivian has previously disclosed pricing of $2,500 as a one-time purchase or $49.99 per month — below the industry’s most advanced system, the Tesla Full Self-Driving.
The other components of the software and services segment include Rivian‘s remote remarketing program for used vehicles, maintenance and repair services, the FleetOS fleet management subscription for commercial customers, the Connect+ infotainment offering, and financing and insurance products.
Revenue Mix Shift
The company generated all of its income from vehicle sales just two years ago.
Total revenue in 2025 reached $5.38 billion, up 8% from $4.97 billion in 2024.
But automotive revenue fell 15% to $3.83 billion, dragged down by a $134 million drop in regulatory credit sales and lower vehicle deliveries.
Software and services revenue more than tripled over the same period.
If the company’s 60% growth target holds, software and services would account for roughly a third of Rivian‘s total revenue in 2026 — up from less than 10% in 2024.
R2 as a Catalyst
McDonough framed the upcoming R2 midsize SUV, which is scheduled to begin customer deliveries in the second quarter, as central to the company’s profitability timeline.
“We believe R2 has a path to exit 2026 with positive gross profit margins and Rivian to be positive on an automotive gross profit basis as well as we exit ’26,” she said.
The Normal, Illinois plant where Rivian currently produces the R1 and commercial van delivered just over 42,000 units last year.
Rivian ended 2025 with approximately $6.1 billion in cash.
The company guided for an adjusted EBITDA loss of $1.8 billion to $2.1 billion and capital expenditures of $1.95 billion to $2.05 billion in 2026.
