The following is excerpted from the question-and-answer section of the transcript.
(Questions from industry analysts are provided in full, but answers are omitted - download the transcript to see the full question-and-answer session)
Question: Dan Levy - Barclays US LLC - Analyst
: Hi, good evening. Thank you for taking the questions. First, I wanted to ask with the mechanics of the technology and the JV, maybe
you can provide us with a sense of going forward, is the intention for Rivian to use its own internal product by yourself, or will you
eventually be using technology developed by the JV? Just what's the split of what's going to be done internally?
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JUNE 25, 2024 / 10:00PM, RIVN.OQ - Rivian Automotive Inc and Volkswagen AG Announce Plans for Joint
Venture Call
And then second, maybe you could just give us a sense on the JV's efforts beyond you or VW. Is the intention to license this out to
possibly others as well?
Question: Dan Levy - Barclays US LLC - Analyst
: Great, thanks. And if I could maybe ask a follow up, and I think, Wassym, you just touched on it. Look, I think you've consistently
communicated the efforts that you've developed on software-defined vehicles, and a lot of that is internal. And you've done that
without really the help of others.
Maybe you could give us a sense of what VW is bringing to the table that helps you. I mean, I think the capital benefits are obvious.
I think you're alluding here to being able to scale this more broadly.
And maybe, how do we address or how do you overcome maybe some of the cultural challenges that sometimes have emerged
with other JVs that we've seen? Because the track record on, frankly, automotive JVs and partnerships hasn't been the most stellar
if you look at the different JVs and partnerships that we've seen over the years.
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JUNE 25, 2024 / 10:00PM, RIVN.OQ - Rivian Automotive Inc and Volkswagen AG Announce Plans for Joint
Venture Call
Question: Ben Kallo - Robert W. Baird & Co. Inc. - Analyst
: Hey, guys. Thank you for taking my question. Congratulations, RJ, and the whole team. Just first on the software, how do we think
about all the data that you get as you put it into the JV? Is it the JV that owns the software and after all these miles are driven on
different platforms or does Rivian retain any of that is my first question. Thank you.
Question: Chris McNally - Evercore ISI - Analyst
: Thanks so much, team. Sorry, the line was breaking up for some of us. I apologize if it's a repeat question. But can you just talk about
maybe how this may change the line of sight on Georgia? Some of the initial comments you talked about funding into free cash flow
positive.
And RJ, as you mentioned, this doesn't affect the actual vehicle platforms. So should we just think of this as a separate funding aspect
thinking about R3 and Georgia or are the two more tied in a way we're not thinking about?
Question: Joseph Spak - UBS Equities - Analyst
: Thanks so much, everyone. Congratulations. I guess my question is -- I just want to be clear. All future electronic architecture and
software will be designed and developed within the JV, or is Rivian still going [to do it]? Is Volkswagen contributing any (technical
difficulty) besides the capital? And then just based on the timing of the funding to the JV, is it fair to assume that you're spending
about $0.5 billion a year annually on such initiatives?
Question: Mark Delaney - The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. - Analyst
: Yes, good afternoon. Thanks for taking the question, and congratulations on reaching the preliminary agreement. I was hoping you
could speak in a bit more detail on how the JV will fund itself over the longer term.
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JUNE 25, 2024 / 10:00PM, RIVN.OQ - Rivian Automotive Inc and Volkswagen AG Announce Plans for Joint
Venture Call
I understand the investments coming from VW, but will Rivian need to make payments to the JV in order to use the technology the
JV will develop? And then over time, would you envision Rivian making any capital contributions to the joint venture?
Question: Tobias Beith - Redburn Atlantic - Analyst
: Hi, good evening. Thanks for taking my question. I was wondering if you could perhaps describe how Rivian has calculated the future
value of the IP injected into the JV. I guess, from my rough math, $3 billion paid up might be equivalent to royalty income from the
sale of 2 million units, which whilst a large figure in absolute terms, probably only covers production from Volkswagen for a couple
of years.
Question: James Picariello - BNP Paribas Exane - Analyst
: Hi, everybody, and congrats. My apologies, the connection kind of cut out earlier. So if this was already asked, again, my apologies.
But just on the scaling, the potential scaling benefit of the purchasing of the hardware for the electrical architecture that the JV will
provide, can you just kind of help us unpack, think about what those scaling benefits could look like in terms of the hardware side
of purchasing? Thanks.
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JUNE 25, 2024 / 10:00PM, RIVN.OQ - Rivian Automotive Inc and Volkswagen AG Announce Plans for Joint
Venture Call
Question: George Gianarikas - Canaccord Genuity Group Inc. - Analyst
: Hi, everyone, and thank you for taking my questions. You mentioned earlier that a few things will remain distinctly Rivian, including
obviously the aesthetics, the battery, the autonomous platform, propulsion. I was wondering, how did the two companies land on
electric architecture and software to be the two areas that you'll jointly develop in the future? Thank you.
Question: Shreyas Patil - Wolfe Research, LLC - Analyst
: Hey, thanks so much for taking my question. I just wanted to understand, I think in the release, it mentioned that VW would gain
access to Rivian's existing electronic architecture upon establishment of the joint venture. So I just wanted to understand what they
would be able to access?
And just on the last point you made, RJ, it seems that what you already have in the now-refreshed R1, it sounds like a lot of that is
going to be carried over into the joint venture. And it's really more about applying it to lower-cost vehicles. But in that interim, is
VW going to be able to essentially take what you already have on the R1 and deploy it into any of their vehicles ahead of that?
Question: Ron Jewsikow - Guggenheim Securities, LLC - Analyst
: Yes. Good afternoon and thanks for taking my questions. I believe you mentioned the potential for this to scale to other OEMs. I
guess, just mechanically, would those hypothetical other OEMs buy into the current joint venture, or would they buy product from
the joint venture as prospective customers? And just a point of clarification, I guess, the ultimate intent of this joint venture, is it to
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