Rivian CEO on CarPlay, Lidar, and affordable EVs

October 6, 2025·51 min·4 clips

Rivian CEO RJ Scringe says they outsell Tesla Model X and have 35% market share in premium electric SUVs.

1. Decoder, normally hosted by Nilay Patel (The Verge), features WSJ senior technology columnist Joanna Stern guest-hosting for her final episode while Patel is on parental leave, with Rivian CEO RJ Scaringe as the guest. 2. Joanna Stern identifies herself as a co-founder of The Verge and author of the forthcoming book 'I Am Not a Robot,' and frames the interview around her personal decision: her Ford Mustang Mach-E lease expires next year just as the Rivian R2 launches. 3. The episode examines Rivian's transition from a premium truck brand to a mass-market EV company, the competitive landscape shaped by Chinese manufacturers and tariffs, and specific product decisions like CarPlay exclusion. 4. Rivian launched in 2021 with the R1T truck and R1S SUV at an average transaction price of around $90,000, intentionally starting with a premium product to establish the brand's identity around active lifestyles and off-road capability. 5. The R2, expected to start deliveries in the first half of 2026, begins at $45,000 — roughly half the cost of R1 — with Scaringe saying they've taken 'half the cost out of the vehicle' without perceived loss of quality. 6. Scaringe reveals Rivian has ranked number one in Consumer Reports' independent brand appeal survey every year since 2021, holds 35% market share in premium electric SUVs, and outsells the Tesla Model X by a significant margin. 7. In California and Washington state, Rivian is the best-selling premium SUV — electric or gas — meaning it outsells premium German and domestic brands in those markets. 8. On Chinese EV competition, Scaringe describes a structural cost moat: very low cost of capital at the OEM and supplier level, plants 'free or close to free,' low labor costs, and compounding advantages from raw materials through finished vehicle. 9. Scaringe argues that Chinese EV makers like BYD are not just cheaper but also technologically advanced — starting with clean-sheet software and electronics architecture, similar to Rivian and Tesla — while legacy automakers are behind on this dimension. 10. Rivian signed a $5.8 billion software licensing deal and joint venture with Volkswagen Group, the world's second-largest automaker, to deploy Rivian's in-house platform across Volkswagen vehicles globally except in China — Scaringe calls it 'one of the largest software licensing deals in the history of the auto industry.' 11. China's export controls on rare earth magnets, imposed during US-China trade negotiations, caused Rivian's production to drop from 14,000 vehicles in Q1 2025 to approximately 6,000 in Q2 — a production collapse Scaringe attributes to a single supply chain constraint. 12. Scaringe says the export control on magnets has since been lifted and Rivian expects to produce and sell more vehicles in the second half of 2025 than the first half. 13. On R2's supply chain, Scaringe says Rivian deliberately built a US-centric sourcing strategy in anticipation of tariffs and domestic manufacturing requirements — a benefit R2 has over R1, which had a fixed supply chain when the trade policy changes arrived. 14. On CarPlay, Scaringe explains Rivian made a deliberate choice not to support Apple CarPlay, wanting to own the complete in-car software experience and integrate all apps — Spotify, YouTube, Google Maps, Apple Music — within a unified Rivian environment rather than switching between platforms. 15. Scaringe says the CarPlay decision will matter more as Rivian integrates AI features into the vehicle experience over the next 18 months. 16. Google Maps integration is now available in Rivian vehicles through a partnership with Google; Stern confirms the update is a significant improvement over the previous mapping experience. 17. Stern plays a recording of her four-year-old son asking 'why did we get a flat tire, Rivian man?' and noting the key card 'is really cool'; Scaringe explains the key card is a backup and the phone-as-key is the intended primary method. 18. Scaringe addresses whether the Elon Musk-Trump political alignment helped Rivian, noting that 'Republicans and Democrats buy Nikes' and that Rivian deliberately tries to depoliticize EVs, pointing to 16,000 US employees and broad demographic ownership. 19. The interview is conversational and detailed, with Stern bringing a consumer-perspective angle — her son's flat tire question, her text about 'fucking terrible' maps — alongside sharper policy and competitive questions. 20. Best for EV shoppers considering Rivian, auto industry observers tracking the EV transition, and technology listeners interested in the CarPlay and AI-in-car debates.

As heard by us

A grounded Rivian interview about affordable EVs, US manufacturing, tariffs, and the global supply chains behind domestic ambition.

Rivian CEO RJ Scaringe talks through the less tidy side of building EVs in America: the R2 may be designed around a US-centric supply chain, but materials such as nickel and heavy rare earth metals still pull the company into global trade.

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