Rivian and Amazon are finding more ways to collaborate with the R1T electric pickup having Alexa support, as demonstrated at an Amazon event today.
In February, Rivian took a $700 million round of funding led by Amazon, and at the time, they were discussing opportunities to work together.
Last week, we learned of the first major opportunity that turned into a multi-billion contract for Rivian to build 100,000 electric delivery vans for Amazon.
That’s going to be a major long-term project, but Rivian’s focus remains on its passenger vehicles, the R1T electric pickup truck and the R1S electric SUV.
Now it looks like Amazon will also be involved with those Rivian vehicles to a certain degree.
At Amazon’s product demo event today, the company has a Rivian R1T prototype in display, and they showed that it has Alexa voice command integration.
It can do things like open the Rivian R1T front trunk (frunk):
Alexa, Open @Rivian hood (sort of). @markgurman @mattmday pic.twitter.com/92NlH2cg6S
— Ed Ludlow (@EdLudlow) September 25, 2019
They have also announced Alexa integration in many other vehicles, including GM integrating in millions of cars, but we are more interested in integration in electric vehicles.
We have already seen Alexa integration work on other electric vehicles, including Tesla vehicles, but it was through a third-party Juicebox charging station.
Amazon has been increasingly involved in electric vehicles through the sale and installation of electric vehicle charging stations.
Through their Amazon Home Services, they built a network of licensed electricians with whom you can schedule an installation of a charging station directly through Amazon.
Some automakers, like Audi and Kia, are even going exclusively through Amazon for their home charging solutions for their electric vehicles in the US.
As their relationship grows closer, we wouldn’t be surprised to see Rivian added to the list with the R1T and RS1 going into production next year.
The Rivian R1T will start at $69,000 before incentives in the US, and it can be equipped with a battery pack configuration of up to 180 kWh for 400 miles of range on a single charge.
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