Rivian founder and chief executive RJ Scaringe said manufacturers that prioritise petrol profits over heavy electric-vehicle and software investment risk being "woefully behind" on technology by the end of the decade.
The Amazon-backed US electric carmaker has just started deliveries of its R2 SUV, which Scaringe described as "make or break" as Rivian seeks to reach profitability after a $3.6 billion loss in 2025 and a market value that has fallen from above $100 billion at its IPO to $21 billion.
"I think we’re going to find a lot of companies are unfortunately woefully behind in terms of their technology," Scaringe said in an interview in London.
He argued the more damaging consequence of the rollback on EVs is the failure to build centralised vehicle computing rather than scattering chips around the car, and said relying on a single computer reduces production costs by "thousands of dollars".
Rivian has backed that strategy with commercial deals and capital, including an Amazon agreement for up to 100,000 delivery vans, a $5.8 billion electric-tech and software joint venture with Volkswagen, and a $1.25 billion investment from Uber that could lead to 50,000 robotaxis.
Scaringe said electric cars were 7.8% of US sales in 2025 and that the R2 could lift that share by three or four percentage points, with UK and mainland Europe sales not expected for at least a year.
Rivian's immediate test is whether R2 volumes and its software investments can drive the company to a first profit.
