Rivian‘s founder and CEO RJ Scaringe said that the company will be developing artificial intelligence for the company’s autonomous driving efforts in its East Coast headquarters.
The company’s key hub for its autonomy, software, and AI development is currently located in Palo Alto, California, where its joint venture to develop software with Volkswagen is also headquartered.
Speaking at a meeting on the Rotary Club of Atlanta, as first reported by the Atlanta Business Chronicle, Scaringe said that they’ve heard “about the vibrant nature of the community” of Atlanta.
“Silicon Valley, where we have thousands of engineers, has a longstanding reputation of being innovative and disrupting,” the chief executive stated, adding, however, that it is different “in the world of thinking about a business that can be manufacturing and innovation together.”
Ahead of Rivian‘s Autonomy Day, which is set for December 11, Scaringe has been hinting at new details to be unveiled on its autonomy platform.
Speaking at Actuate 2025 late last week, the CEO said that “eyes-off” capabilities are “what’s coming” for Rivian owners, admitting that he was in a “two-hour demo drive (…) around essentially all of the Southern Peninsula” where the car drove “completely on its own.”
Local Hires
Rivian‘s East Coast headquarters will be located in the Junction Krog District, in an office fronting the the Atlanta Beltline.
According to Scaringe, employees from California have recently visited the site ahead of the start of operations.
“A bunch of our team from California were like, ‘Man, this is really nice. We don’t have this in the Bay Area,'” CEO RJ Scaringe said, adding that “it was sort of fun. They were all like, ‘So who’s moving?'”
Late last month, the company has also opened “Rivian Commons,” a new public gathering space occupying the ground-floor lobby of Portman Holdings’ Junction Krog District building.
Rivian expects to employ about 100 people at the new site by the end of next year and up to 500 once the headquarters are fully operational.
According to Chief Financial Officer Claire McDonough, the 500 jobs are expected to be filled locally.
This aligns with the company’s commitment to the state of Georgia to create more than 7,500 jobs, including roles in manufacturing, as it expands production there.
Georgia Plant
The new headquarters were announced after the plans for Rivian’s second plant in Georgia, which is expected to have a manufacturing capacity of 400,000 vehicles a year.
In mid-September, the EV maker held the official groundbreaking ceremony at its $5 billion plant, which will support production of the R2 and R3 SUVs.
Rivian is currently preparing and installing utilities, while full structural construction, including foundations and vertical construction, will begin in 2026.
Plans for the factory were announced in late 2021, with the state of Georgia assuming the project site in early 2022.
The facility is expected to take approximately 36 months to build, with partial operations projected to begin in the third quarter of 2027 and sales of its production to start in 2028.
Scaringe said on Monday that, without this facility, the EV maker would not be able to achieve the scale necessary for profitability.
“Georgia is the most critical part of a long-term trajectory to become a very strong cash-producing business,” Scaringe added, stating that it “will then obviously fund the flywheel for further technology development, further growth, further investment.”
Last month, the company’s CFO had stated that Rivian’s operating profit target will be hit in 2028, once its main plant in Normal, Illinois, reaches full production capacity of 200,000 vehicles a year.
DOE Loan
Last month, Rivian’s CFO Claire McDonough said the company is planning to get access to the US Department of Energy’s $6.6 billion loan for its Georgia factory ahead of starting production.
The brand secured approval for the loan from the DOE to finance construction of the plant back in January.
Shareholders have been cautious about the investment, as US President Donald Trump has repeatedly promised to cut billions in funding for clean energy projects.
Earlier this month, the Energy Department canceled grants for new factories in several states, including Alabama and Kentucky. Rivian‘s plant in Georgia, however, remains unaffected.
