Rivian's software chief thinks you don't need CarPlay or buttons

RV Tech is a platform joint venture between Rivian and Volkswagen that began about a year and a half ago with nearly $6 billion in investment. Wassym Bensaid leads operating system and electrical architecture for future Volkswagen EVs and associated brands, including Audi and Scout. The structure aims to preserve Rivian’s unique software culture while defining which software components remain Rivian-only versus which core technologies are shared across Volkswagen Group. Rivian is preparing to deliver the more affordable Rivian R2, the first vehicle built on the new architecture. Rivian also shipped the AI-powered Rivian Assistant in R1 vehicles, positioning it as the start of an agentic software platform. The assistant experience prompted feature requests, bug reports, and questions about AI and voice assistants in cars.

"That joint venture kicked off about a year and a half ago with a nearly $6 billion investment from Volkswagen. It effectively puts Wassym in charge of the operating system and electrical architecture for every future EV from Volkswagen and its associated brands, including familiar names like Audi, but also new companies like Scout."

"There's a lot of Decoder ideas in there - I really wanted to know how that joint venture works and how it's structured to preserve Rivian's unique software culture, which you'll hear Wassym talk about as the core element of the whole thing. I also wanted to know where the lines were - what parts of Rivian's software get to be just for Rivian, and which parts of the core technology would be shared across the smaller company and the behemoth that is Volkswagen Group."

"It's also a big moment for Rivian in general right now. The company is gearing up to deliver the more affordable Rivian R2, which is the first vehicle based on this new architecture, and the company also just shipped the AI-powered Rivian Assistant in its R1 vehicles. You'll hear Wassym talk about Assistant as the beginning of a big bet for Rivian, as it tries to create a more agentic software platform in its cars."

"I actually got to spend some time with the Rivian Assistant in an R1S ahead of my conversation with Wassym, and I found it to be a fascinating experience - certainly powerful and engaging while at the same time frustrating in a lot of really interesting ways. So I had a lot of feature requests, bug reports, and questions about the future of AI and voice assistants in cars."

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