Why would Apple consider partnering with Rivian? CEO highlights software

Rivian CEO RJ Scaringe provided a surprising amount of detail when asked during a first-quarter earnings call about rumors of a potential partnership with Apple.

Although he began with the caveat “we don’t comment on rumors or speculation,” he quickly reminded listeners that the company had a “partnership history,” referring to delivery vans built by Rivian for Amazon, which also has a significant stake in Rivien.

But Apple reportedly doesn’t want delivery vans, so what’s in it for the iPhone maker? Scaringe’s comments suggest that a software-driven autonomous driving initiative could benefit Cupertino.

In February, Apple reportedly abandoned plans to build a self-driving electric vehicle, ending a billion-dollar project that had been years in the making. Apple seemed unable to master autonomous driving despite extensive road testing, and gradually scaled back its ambitions before abandoning it altogether.

Scaringe says Rivian’s investment in building and owning all of its automotive technology, rather than relying on third-party suppliers, “gives us a lot of strength in front of customers and creates opportunities for partnerships.” . Rivian’s desire for end-to-end control over its systems means that, like Tesla and, soon, General Motors, it doesn’t support Apple CarPlay.

The vertically integrated software stack provides the ideal “learning loop” for autonomous driving technology, Scaringe says.

“We designed our autonomous platforms around controlling all of the incoming data and then how we use the training models to advance the platform,” he explains. We saw this recently, albeit on a smaller scale, when Rivian implemented a charging station reliability score based on internal vehicle data.

Tesla also prides itself on its in-house technology. But it seems unlikely that CEO Elon Musk will team up with another company in his quest to solve autonomous driving. “We’re very excited about our autonomy roadmap,” Musk said during Tesla’s first-quarter earnings conference call. “If someone doesn’t believe Tesla is going to solve the autonomy problem, I think they shouldn’t invest in the company.”

However, Musk is open to licensing Tesla’s self-driving technology to other automakers.