Motor Trend - USA (2020-04)

28 MOTORTREND.COM APRIL 2020

R

ivian, an electric vehicle startup,

already has more than 1,800

employees (with 1,000 being

added this year) and has raised $3.5

billion to build the R1T electric pickup

truck and R1S three-row electric SUV at a

mothballed Mitsubishi plant in Normal,

Illinois. Rivian will also build an electric

SUV for Ford and fulfill a contract for

100,000 electric commercial delivery vans

for Amazon Prime. Rivian is led by CEO

RJ Scaringe, who splits his time between

operations in Michigan, California, and

Illinois.

When do you start production? End of

this year, first truck then SUV. We will

build pilots in Q3, but the first delivered

pickup will be December, with the SUV

about three months later. There are

efforts to pull that forward, but we’re

being realistic.

How does the plant handle so many

different products of varying sizes? The

place was laid out to have a skateboard

line (the frame with batteries, suspension,

motors, brakes)—one line that does

Rivian vehicles, Amazon, and other

variants [such as the Ford SUV]. Batteries

come from another line and plug into the

skateboard. Then we have two [final trim]

lines: one for high-content Rivians and

one for low-content vehicles for Amazon.

Do you have any concerns about building

a Ford competitor to your own SUV? No

we don’t. We believe the broad-based

movement to electrification is good

for everyone. It helps infrastructure

challenges and awareness. The products

are set up in such a way that maybe there

is 5 percent overlap, but they are such

different market positions. The Rivian

brand is so focused on going after a

more adventure-oriented market that

we’ve left other markets untouched. The

ability for us to go in and touch other

markets through another brand is great.

What we’re doing with Amazon is a

perfect example. We’re able to play in the

commercial logistics space, but we’re not

doing it in a way that dilutes our brand.

CEO, Rivian

in operating the vehicle. They can be on

their phone or reading a book. It requires

a robust set of sensors in the vehicle for

redundant sources of perception, so

multiple cameras, radar, ultrasonics for

close range, and two forward-facing lidars

so we don’t mistake a white truck for the

white sky, and everything is checking

itself. There will be a lower sensor set

version that provides Level 1+ or Level 2

features. That’s an option. We launch with

the full [Level 3] capability.

Will you have a dealer network or

direct sales like Tesla? It’s a direct sales

channel, so we’re not working with

dealers. Unfortunately, because of the

regulatory environment in the United

States, it creates a challenging situation

in states like Michigan or Texas. You can

view vehicles at Rivian locations, but the

purchase will have to take place in a state

that allows it.

And for service? We have a unique

opportunity because every vehicle we

sell will be smart. It will be connected;

it’ll have robust health diagnostics for

predictive maintenance and to assess

problems. If it can’t be fixed with remote

services, we’ll pick up the car and give

you a loaner or do the service on site. If it

needs significant work and it is in an area

that does not have a service station, that’s

where the partner networks that we’re

setting up will come into play.

Are your vehicles designed to be

retail passenger vehicles only or also

car-sharing fleets? For Rivian, everything

is for consumers to purchase, but over

time we will introduce various modes

of sharing. We’re creating subscription

models, but they work best once you have

all the infrastructure to support that—

whether it is service, retail, the logistics of

moving vehicles around. It also lends itself

to higher levels of autonomy.

Will there be Easter eggs in the Rivians for

customers to find, like Tesla has? Tons. I’m

working on them.

Alisa Priddle

As you add more Rivian vehicles, how will

you name them? It’s relatively simple. R1

refers to our R1 platform. Our next set

of products we’ll call R2. It’s a smaller

platform. We have a third R1 product that

we haven’t announced yet. And we have

two R2 products. We’re not going to be

saying much about R2 for a while. There’s

a lot of momentum on the program

internally, but we’re not showing it or

talking about it yet.

You will launch with Level 3 autonomy?

Rivian’s version of Level 3 operates under

a set of geofenced domains: On a highway

with limited access, you can remove

hands from steering wheel and eyes from

road and no longer be the redundant layer

Robert “RJ” Scaringe

NEWSI OPINIONI GOSSIPI STUFF

Interview

For a more thorough overview of the Rivian

R1T electric pickup, check out page 60.