Rivian and Volkswagen Group‘s joint venture is looking for a location in Palo Alto to establish its headquarters.
RV Tech, the joint venture between the US EV maker and the German auto giant, is looking for office space spanning approximately three floors and totaling 75,000 square feet.
The company has confirmed to the local media outlet San Francisco Business Times that it is “seeking a new headquarters to support rapid growth.”
“Accessing Silicon Valley’s talent is crucial for RV Tech to build the foundational architecture (…) and scale our technological vision globally,” the company stated.
Rivian considers Palo Alto its second home — after Irvine, where it is headquartered — with major operations in autonomy, AI, software and hardware based there.
Additionally, several other teams, including mechanical engineering, finance, software engineering, sales and legal, also have offices there.
According to a report by the San Francisco Business Times, RV Tech has looked into a former Fry’s Electronics store, which is currently being redeveloped.
However, the negotiations have ended without a positive result for the company.
The space would have been just two miles away from competitor Tesla’s engineering hub. Despite having moved its headquarters to Austin, Texas, the team has remained largely in California.
The joint venture is currently hiring for several positions across North America and Europe, most of them related to R&D.
In North America, it includes not only California (Palo Alto and Irvine), but also Canada (in Toronto).
According to the company’s LinkedIn page, RV Tech currently has locations in Irvine, Palo Alto (US), Vancouver (Canada) and Belgrade (Serbia).
A month ago, the project’s Director of Engineering Kamen Vitanov wrote no LinkedIn that RV Tech is building a development team in Toronto.
Most of the positions focus on developing infotainment apps.
In Europe, RV Tech is looking for engineers in Berlin, Germany — where Volkswagen was founded, despite having since then moved its HQ to Wolfsburg.
Other positions are located in Belgrade, where Rivian has established its first European R&D center, in 2022.
Rivian and Volkswagen entered a partnership in late 2024, according to which the German automaker agreed to invest $5.8 billion in the EV maker as it adopts Rivian‘s zonal architecture and software stack in its future electric vehicles.
Rivian‘s software will be integrated in Volkswagen‘s upcoming ID.1 model, an entry-level vehicle to its electric lineup, as well as the upcoming Rivian R2.
Last month, however, Manager Magazin reported that Volkswagen employees assigned to the joint venture with Rivian have been largely sidelined in software development, as the EV maker prioritizes the launch of its R2 SUV.
The ID.1 will be VW’s first SDV (software defined vehicle), according to Volkswagen brand’s CEO Thomas Schäfer, who said that the vehicle will have an “updatable and very performant electric/electronic software architecture.”
The legacy automaker announced earlier this year that the production version will be launched in 2027, having been anticipated from 2028.
