[Dry Ice]

After investing in autonomous tech Aurora (Amazon invests in autonomous car startup Aurora) , now they are also investing in an electric startup Rivian said to rival, you guessed it, Tesla. Right now they are taking pre-orders and products are supposed to be delivered only in 2020.

Quoting from the article -

Rivian announced this morning that Amazon has, in fact, led an investment round of $700 million, driving the value of the Michigan-based company over a billion dollars and elevating it to unicorn status.

Source: Forbes


EDIT: On second thoughts, doesn't it look similar to a Toyota FJ Cruiser?

[GTO]

Sure is a leap of faith!

Rivian has showcased a nice looking truck, but little other than that. Yeah, they have a big factory and grand plans of hosting even part suppliers there, but as we all know, the big manufacturers (Toyota, Ford, VW) are all soon arriving on the electric car scene. Tesla had a major first-mover advantage, but Rivian certainly doesn't. Plus, manufacturing + selling cars is a highly complex process. Just look at the challenges & struggles of Tesla, despite having such a driven CEO & so many years of experience.

I'm left wondering what Rivian's prospects are and equally, what Amazon wants from this.

[hemanth.anand]

The Specs looks good...



The SUV and the truck both look good too. It'd be interesting to see how many would be willing to bet on this right now. When the vehicle is scheduled for the after around 2 years, the EV scene would be very different IMO. Interesting times indeed!

[volkman10]

Ford Makes $500M Investment In Rivian, will make an EV together.
The move will spawn a Ford product on a Rivian platform.

RJ Scaringe, Rivian founder and CEO:

This strategic partnership marks another key milestone in our drive to accelerate the transition to sustainable mobility. Ford has a long-standing commitment to sustainability, with Bill Ford being one of the industry’s earliest advocates, and we are excited to use our technology to get more electric vehicles on the road

Bill Ford, Ford’s executive chairman:

We are excited to invest in and partner with Rivian. I have gotten to know and respect RJ, and we share a common goal to create a sustainable Future for our industry through innovation

Rivian was already using Ford F-150 pickups as test mules to test its powertrain for its own R1T pickup, but the two companies confirmed that the vehicle they are partnering on is not an electric F-150.

Ford confirmed that it is still independently developing an electric F-150 and its Mustang-inspired electric crossover.

They are not confirming what type of vehicle it will be, but it will be produced by Ford using electric platforms produced by Rivian

Link

[GTO]

There is definitely a LOT cooking at Rivian and among all the new EV startups, it has attracted the most attention. Many say that it has the most potential.

Amazon had earlier led a $700 million investment round in it. And there's quite some buzz around Rivian. Example link - Full of fun surprises.

[shashank21090]

Rivian has an innovative chassis, like a skateboard one could say.
They have also stepped up to Level 3 autonomy,with LIDAR, radar, US sensors. It will be fun to see where Ford's intrinsic pickup-centric strategy takes this company.

[GTO]

NYTimes has a nice article on Rivian:

By definition, the time of the world’s richest man is pretty valuable. But early last fall, Jeff Bezos sought out a 36-year old entrepreneur named R.J. Scaringe and spent the better part of a day in Plymouth, Mich., at the company he founded, Rivian.

Mr. Bezos got a preview of Rivian’s electric pickup truck and sport utility vehicle and liked what he saw. Not long after his visit, Amazon led a $700 million investment in Rivian. Two months later, in April, Ford Motor invested $500 million. All told, Rivian has raised $1.7 billion without selling a single truck or S.U.V.

If you have not heard of Rivian before, well, that was intentional. Until recently, it was in stealth mode, operating out of unmarked buildings and making few public announcements. But no longer. By the end of 2020, Rivian intends to begin producing premium electric vehicles, with a greater range than anything on the road today.

Rivian is promising to do for trucks what Tesla did for luxury cars.

That’s where the similarities between the two electric automobile makers end. Even as Tesla and its brash chief executive, Elon Musk, made headlines by setting and falling short of some audacious goals, Mr. Scaringe and Rivian have spent a decade fine-tuning their designs.

Walking around a former Mitsubishi plant in Normal, Ill., Mr. Scaringe points to where stamping presses will churn out car parts like fenders and doors. But he is hoping to do more than sell cars. Mr. Scaringe wants to dispel myths he thinks still surround electric vehicles.

[sri_tesla]

Amazon placed an order for 1 lakh electric delivery trucks from Rivian. Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos says he expects the 100,000 Rivian vans to be on the road by 2024. The first vans will hit the road in 2021, with prototypes possibly arriving in 2020.



Rivan seems to be the most promising of the EV startups. So far this year, Rivian raised more than $1.5 billion from the likes of Amazon, Ford, Cox Automotive etc...

Source:
https://www.theverge.com/2019/9/19/2...ff-bezos-order

[tsk1979]

It just got real.

Rivian was just a pie in the Electric Startup. Then it became a "watch closely" electric startup.

With the latest investment and Amazon's hand, it has suddenly become, "will be successful" electric startup.

Amazon has 41B in cash, and the billions they are pouring in Rivian mean the company has no want of technology or Engineers to meet the demands.
This changes the game, Tesla finally got real "Electric" competition.

[FrodoOfTheShire]

https://youtu.be/ELNKkHtMiv8

[ChiragM]

Rivian has released a video showing the tank turn feature available on the R1T electric pickup and the R1S electric SUV.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yzwM8KE2L3I

The video shows the electric SUV spinning around its own axis just like a tracked vehicle. The tank turn feature is possible as the vehicle has four independent electric motors, one for each wheel. This lets the vehicle spin around on the same spot.

According to reports, the feature is only available on loose surfaces like gravel and dirt as high grip surfaces may cause damage to the electric motors.

Link to Team-BHP News

[zehhatter]

Ford and Amazon have invested major money into Rivian and supposedly they are instrumental in the making of the Lincoln electric SUVs. How much Rivian tech was used in the Mach-E Mustang might be disclosed later. Rivian is one of the companies which has the potential to rival Tesla.

[alpha1]

Well that leads to an interesting conclusion - 4x4 of electric era may be vastly different from the today's ICE based primarily in transmission,
Compared to ICE with transmission, gear ratios, differentials etc - one can have a motor for each wheel.

[rshnvjy]

This is very interesting and something that only quad motor systems can do. The Tesla architecture is vastly different with the motors driving individual axles rather than individual wheels.

Rivian was founded way back in 2009 but chose to keep quiet and conduct R&D privately rather than overpromising and underdelivering, resulting in what seems to be a mature, well developed and rather innovative electric UV platform. No wonder the bigwigs are betting on them with their money.

[Ironhide]

That's amazing capability, something that only tracked vehicles could do until now. But with the advent of electric vehicles with individual motors powering the wheels, it was only a matter of time till this capability came about.

Pretty nifty I'd say.

All the same, here's a video demonstrating a tank's capability to do a 360° turn.

https://youtu.be/NAnVw5wgEI0

Here's a look at the T-90 of the army.

https://youtu.be/ycbi7dQJlrY

And here are some of the other tanks.

https://youtu.be/LFSWj0qgUeA

Cheers !

Videos Courtesy : YouTube