by When Volkswagen (vow.de) invested billions from dollars in a joint venture with Rivian (RIVN), it was regarded as a win-win situation for both companies. The German giant had access to Rivian’s Zonal Architecture and Systems for EVS, and Rivian received the money and time for future product construction, including the medium-sized R2 SUV.
Good business for both sides. The VW software initiatives had hit Snags, most clearly with its Cariad software unit, which led to great delays for his EVS in the Porsche and Audi portfolio. Rivian still doesn’t make any money, although it achieved some milestones in profitability in the last quarter. The maker of the electric vehicle for the period of electric vehicles needs the billions provided by VW to update its factory and bring R2 into production.
Wassym Bensaid, Rivians Chief Software Officer and co-manager of the Rivian VW-Joint Venture, aims to correct the ship for VW and bring Rivian software products as many users as possible.
The Bensaid team is responsible for the entire technology stack, the Rivian vehicles and the “end-to-end user experience” are underpinned by software updates and software for the Rivian Lade network. He has been the co-CEO of the joint venture with the VW Group since November.
According to Bensaid, Rivian’s upcoming R2, a medium -sized Tesla (TSLA) model -Y competitor, is an important key for the deal.
“R2 is the platform that actually underpins all future EV products at VW,” said Bensaid in an interview with Yahoo Finance. “So it is really more modular, scalable technology stack that we will take in VW brands, and we will do it in such a way that we still allow each of the brands to express their own identity.”
With this platform and the tech stack, Rivian Volkswagen almost offers an “extra tax” solution for its upcoming ID2 Ev. However, the plan is that other VW brands such as Skoda and Audi would have access to the R2 platform to want them.
“Each brand will have its own user interface, look and feel,” said Bensaid. “Each brand will have its own suspension coordination … but under the intestines of the vehicle will be optimized on the basis of the same technology and software architecture.”
Speaking of R2 and is supposed to start production in the first half of 2026. The first models roll off the line at some point.
“R2 is a development of architecture that we have introduced with ours [R1] GEN2 vehicles, and there are a lot of lessons in the way we manufacture the R2 from a technological point of view [to] … production, “said Bensaid.
