Latest news with #WassymBensaid
The Verge
3 days ago
- Automotive
- The Verge
Rivian wants to make EV charging faster, smarter, and easier
Rivian is overhauling the charging experience for its EV customers, offering them more information about how their battery-powered vehicles take in and use energy. The automaker is rolling out a software update to its vehicles and smartphone app that aims to give its customers a more thorough and holistic view of their vehicle's charging capabilities, while also offering faster charging speeds to all of its EVs. The changes come as Rivian navigates a tougher charging environment, with public EV charging still experiencing notable gaps and federal spending on charging installations drying up. The new update allows Rivian owners to see 'where their energy is going' in real time, says Wassym Bensaid, chief software officer at the company. The updated Energy app will display detailed graphs explaining how energy is used when the vehicle is idle and will provide tips on how to best conserve energy and range, he says. 'The idea is [to] democratize the access in terms of 'energy in' with charging and then 'energy out' with how you're spending your range' Bensaid says. The Energy app will also now include two tabs: 'Charging' for energy intake and 'Energy Monitor' for energy output. The Charging tab shows EV owners how much energy is flowing directly into their battery pack during a charge session, as compared to the energy being used by other vehicle systems. When they're actively charging, the app provides a detailed breakdown of where the energy is going, including battery, overall system consumption, HVAC usage, and any connected accessories. And in the Energy Monitor tab, there's a new chart that shows customers how climate, outlets, and drive systems are consuming energy when they're driving or parked. A new 'Trip Target' feature provides charging recommendations when using navigation for a trip that includes a charging stop. Once the charging session has started, the app will calculate and notify the customer the moment they reach the ideal charge level for the rest of the trip. No more waiting until it gets to 100 percent (or 80 percent if you're concerned about battery health). Under Energy Monitor, there's a new interactive graph that shows projected range impact over time while driving or parked, based on insights from the owner's recent driving history. An animated Yeti character (Rivian's mascot) will use facial expressions to show whether the owner's efficiency is high, low, or normal for current conditions, and there will be helpful tips for maximizing a vehicle's efficiency. In addition to the app improvements, Rivian is also making it easier — and faster — to charge its vehicles. The company is adding a 'highly requested' feature to precondition the battery on demand. Owners can warm or cool their battery pack when they want, even before navigating to a charger, which can help optimize charging speeds. A clear banner will indicate when the battery is warming or cooling and when preconditioning is complete. 'The idea is [to] democratize the access in terms of 'energy in' with charging and then 'energy out' with how you're spending your range.' Both Rivian's first-generation and second-generation EVs are getting faster DC charging thanks to a software update. The Gen 2 Large Pack gets an extra boost, charging even faster at a speed of up to 215kW, which can add 15 percent of range in just 15 minutes of charging, the company says. Rivian achieved this by optimizing battery temperatures in simulation through individual cell improvements and then virtually testing and refining the solutions in a simulated environment with real-world conditions. The company's engineers then validated the new optimized temperatures with actual vehicles. But this update is just the beginning of Rivian's planned improvements to the charging experience. Bensaid says that in the coming month, the company will roll out a new 'Smart Charging' feature that allows customers to time their home-charging sessions to save money on their energy bill, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and reduce their carbon footprint. Next year, Rivian will launch a new bidirectional charging feature that allows people to use their vehicles as mobile power generators to send power to electronic devices, other EVs, or even their own home. 'Utilities and the grid is so fragmented, like I'm personally even not aware about promotional rates in my area,' Bensaid says. 'Having a solution where we make that super easy for customers — you just configure things once and then software does it for you automatically behind the scenes — I mean, that will be a game changer.'
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Automotive
- Yahoo
Rivian's R2 will 'underpin' all future Volkswagen EVs, exec says
When Volkswagen ( invested billions of dollars in a joint venture with Rivian (RIVN), it was seen as a win-win for both companies. The German giant would have access to Rivian's zonal architecture and systems for EVs, and Rivian received the cash — and time — for its future product buildout, including the R2 mid-sized SUV. A good deal, for sure, for both sides. VW's software initiatives had hit snags, most significantly with its CARIAD software unit, which led to big delays for its EVs in the Porsche and Audi portfolio. As for Rivian, it still isn't making money, though it did reach some profitability milestones last quarter. The upstart electric vehicle maker needs the billions provided by VW to update its factory and get R2 into production. Wassym Bensaid, Rivian's chief software officer and co-head of the Rivian-VW joint venture, aims to right the ship for VW and help get Rivian software products to as many users as possible. Bensaid's team is responsible for the entire technology stack that underpins Rivian vehicles and the 'end-to-end user experience' — think software updates and software for the Rivian Charging network. Since November, he's been co-CEO of the joint venture with VW Group. Bensaid said Rivian's upcoming R2, a midsize Tesla (TSLA) Model Y competitor, is a major key to the deal. "R2 is the platform that will underpin actually all future EV products at VW," Bensaid said in an interview with Yahoo Finance. "So it's really that modular, scalable technology stack that we will take into VW brands, and we will do it in a way where we will still allow each of the brands to express their own identity." With that platform and tech stack, Rivian will offer almost an 'off-the-shelf' solution for Volkswagen to use for its upcoming ID1 EV. But the plan is that other VW brands like Skoda and Audi would get access to the R2 platform to use as they please. "Each brand will have their own UI, look and feel," Bensaid said. "Each brand will have their own suspension tuning … but underneath the guts of the vehicle will be optimized based on the same technology and software architecture." Speaking of the R2, Rivian is slated to begin production in the first half of 2026, with the first models rolling off the line sometime after that. 'R2 is an evolution of the architecture that we introduced with our [R1] Gen2 vehicles, and there's a ton of lessons learned that went into how we make the R2 from a technology standpoint, from engineering [to] ... manufacturing," Bensaid said. "That is allowing us to really not only make progress, but we're extremely happy with the maturity of R2 compared to where R1 was." He added that developing the R2 for production has been easier and more efficient than the original R1. With Rivian's pricey R1 vehicles the only products on offer, Rivian needs the R2 launch to happen soon and on time in order to expand sales. It doesn't help that the status of the federal EV tax credit is in limbo and may be gone if the GOP's 'big, beautiful bill' is passed by the Senate. But the bigger issue is that customers are asking about the R2 — and whether it will arrive on time and at the targeted $45,000. "Everybody is waiting for the R2; everybody is excited about the R2," Bensaid said. "It's the absolute No. 1 priority for the customer." Pras Subramanian is a reporter for Yahoo Finance. You can follow him on X and on Instagram.
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Automotive
- Yahoo
Rivian's R2 will 'underpin' all future Volkswagen EVs, exec says
When Volkswagen ( invested billions of dollars in a joint venture with Rivian (RIVN), it was seen as a win-win for both companies. The German giant would have access to Rivian's zonal architecture and systems for EVs, and Rivian received the cash — and time — for its future product buildout, including the R2 mid-sized SUV. A good deal, for sure, for both sides. VW's software initiatives had hit snags, most significantly with its CARIAD software unit, which led to big delays for its EVs in the Porsche and Audi portfolio. As for Rivian, it still isn't making money, though it did reach some profitability milestones last quarter. The upstart electric vehicle maker needs the billions provided by VW to update its factory and get R2 into production. Wassym Bensaid, Rivian's chief software officer and co-head of the Rivian-VW joint venture, aims to right the ship for VW and help get Rivian software products to as many users as possible. Bensaid's team is responsible for the entire technology stack that underpins Rivian vehicles and the 'end-to-end user experience' — think software updates and software for the Rivian Charging network. Since November, he's been co-CEO of the joint venture with VW Group. Bensaid said Rivian's upcoming R2, a midsize Tesla (TSLA) Model Y competitor, is a major key to the deal. "R2 is the platform that will underpin actually all future EV products at VW," Bensaid said in an interview with Yahoo Finance. "So it's really that modular, scalable technology stack that we will take into VW brands, and we will do it in a way where we will still allow each of the brands to express their own identity." With that platform and tech stack, Rivian will offer almost an 'off-the-shelf' solution for Volkswagen to use for its upcoming ID1 EV. But the plan is that other VW brands like Skoda and Audi would get access to the R2 platform to use as they please. "Each brand will have their own UI, look and feel," Bensaid said. "Each brand will have their own suspension tuning … but underneath the guts of the vehicle will be optimized based on the same technology and software architecture." Speaking of the R2, Rivian is slated to begin production in the first half of 2026, with the first models rolling off the line sometime after that. 'R2 is an evolution of the architecture that we introduced with our [R1] Gen2 vehicles, and there's a ton of lessons learned that went into how we make the R2 from a technology standpoint, from engineering [to] ... manufacturing," Bensaid said. "That is allowing us to really not only make progress, but we're extremely happy with the maturity of R2 compared to where R1 was." He added that developing the R2 for production has been easier and more efficient than the original R1. With Rivian's pricey R1 vehicles the only products on offer, Rivian needs the R2 launch to happen soon and on time in order to expand sales. It doesn't help that the status of the federal EV tax credit is in limbo and may be gone if the GOP's 'big, beautiful bill' is passed by the Senate. But the bigger issue is that customers are asking about the R2 — and whether it will arrive on time and at the targeted $45,000. "Everybody is waiting for the R2; everybody is excited about the R2," Bensaid said. "It's the absolute No. 1 priority for the customer." Pras Subramanian is a reporter for Yahoo Finance. You can follow him on X and on Instagram.
Yahoo
7 days ago
- Automotive
- Yahoo
How Rivian is using software to compete with rivals
Rivian (RIVN) is expected to start delivering its R2 SUV in 2026. One of the big things the company is focusing on with both the R2 and its existing fleet is software. In the video above, Rivian's chief software officer, Wassym Bensaid, shares the importance of software to the next generation of vehicles. To watch more expert insights and analysis on the latest market action, check out more Asking for a Trend here. I lead the software team at Rivian. And my team is responsible for the entire technology stack that underpins Rivian vehicles. And then the end-to-end user experience that we provide to our customers. In parallel, and then since November, I'm the co-CEO of the joint venture that we have with the VW Group, which is delivering reference platforms to Rivian to the VW brands and then eventually, our goal is to have that for other brands as well. Wassim, you mentioned, you know, software, software-defined vehicles, VW, right? Is that what that deal is all about? Is basically Volkswagen saying, Hey Rivian, you guys have great software. You know, we're talking about a vehicle that they were able to update the software to make the suspension better, believe it or not. Is that what we're talking about here when we talk about software-defined vehicles? That's exactly it. I mean, when you look at the technology trends in automotive technologies, like electrification, autonomy, connectivity, they are resulting in much bigger amounts of software. And customers now have very high expectations in terms of the end-to-end experience. And modern architecture require a lot of software to really power and unlock that experience. The R2 prototype, Wassim, is on the streets. It's been It's being tested. What do you love about it? Give me Give me the feedback. I love it. First of all, you have seen that wrap. I mean, it's it's so awesome. We have it. Yeah. I think we have it. We have it here. But R2 is a program we're extremely excited about the R2. R2 brings the essence of the Rivian brand, great design, great interior, great drive dynamics, great technology, but then into a price point that will be accessible by a much broader set of customers. So, there's no day where we don't get requests from customers, when can I get my R2? It's really the culmination of a long journey in terms of building our technology, so that we can get it into a vehicle that many more customers can now access. So talk to me about your also the co-head, you mentioned like you mentioned of the JV between Volkswagen and Rivian. What does that entail and are we going to see that R2 technology kind of flow into VW vehicles, for instance? Yeah, exactly. I mean, think about it as the R2 is the platform that will underpin actually all future EV products at VW. So, it's really that modular, scalable technology stack that we will take into VW brands. And we will do it in a way where we will still allow each of the brands to express their own identity. Each brand will have their own UI, look and feel. Each brand will have their own suspension tuning, as you mentioned, but underneath, the guts of the vehicle will be optimized based on the same technology and software architecture. There are questions out there, Wassim, about R2 scalability. Walk me through how you're thinking about that dynamic. Scalability, you mean, from which standpoint? Well, the ability to get as many of those many of them out there as people want. Yes. I mean, everybody is waiting for the R2. Everybody is exciting about the R2. It's the absolute number one priority for the customer. And I think what we are really excited about is when you look at from the technology standpoint, the R2 is an evolution of the architecture that we introduced with our gen two vehicles. And there's a ton of lessons learned that went into how we make the R2 from a technology standpoint, from engineering, from manufacturing. And that is allowing us to really not only make progress, but we're extremely happy with the maturity of R2 compared to where R1 was at the same time from a program standpoint. With the R2, you're going after the Model Y. So walk me through why your product is superior, Wassim. What is setting you apart? I mean, first of all, the the Model Y is a great product, and I think kudos to Tesla who have designed and built a fantastic product. R2, as I mentioned, brings really like everything which is beautiful about the Rivian DNA. That great design, that great interior, great storage, great drive dynamics, the Rivian drive dynamics and then all this technology content into the same price point as the Model Y. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Yahoo
7 days ago
- Automotive
- Yahoo
How Rivian is using software to compete with rivals
Rivian (RIVN) is expected to start delivering its R2 SUV in 2026. One of the big things the company is focusing on with both the R2 and its existing fleet is software. In the video above, Rivian's chief software officer, Wassym Bensaid, shares the importance of software to the next generation of vehicles. To watch more expert insights and analysis on the latest market action, check out more Asking for a Trend here. Sign in to access your portfolio
