Rivian CEO RJ Scaringe says too many carmakers are copying Tesla

07/22/24 • 63 min

2 Listeners

Today, I’m talking with Rivian founder and CEO RJ Scaringe. RJ was on the show last September when we chatted at the Code Conference, but the past 10 months have seen a whirlwind of change throughout the car industry and at Rivian in particular. This year alone, the company unveiled five new models in its lineup and also just announced a $5 billion joint venture with Volkswagen. We got into all that and more.

If you’re a Decoder listener, you’ve heard me talk to a lot of car CEOs on the show, but it’s rare to talk to a car company founder, and RJ was game to talk about basically anything — even extremely minor feature requests I pulled from the forums. It’s a fun one.

Links:

Rivian CEO RJ Scaringe isn't scared of the Cybertruck | Decoder
VW will invest up to $5 billion in Rivian as part of new EV joint venture | The Verge
Rivian blazed a trail with its adventure EVs — can it stay on top? | The Verge
Rivian R2 revealed: a $45,000 electric off-roader for the masses | The Verge
Rivian surprises with R3 and R3X electric SUVs | The Verge
Rivian puts its Georgia factory plans on pause | The Verge
Rivian’s R1 vehicles are getting a gut overhaul | The Verge
Rivian R1S review: king of the mountain | The Verge
Rivian’s long, narrow road to profit | WSJ
Tesla’s Share of U.S. Electric Car Market Falls Below 50% | NYT

Transcript: https://www.theverge.com/e/23965790

Credits:

Decoder is a production of The Verge, and part of the Vox Media Podcast Network.

Our producers are Kate Cox and Nick Statt. Our editor is Callie Wright. Our supervising producer is Liam James.

The Decoder music is by Breakmaster Cylinder.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Links:

Rivian CEO RJ Scaringe isn't scared of the Cybertruck | Decoder
VW will invest up to $5 billion in Rivian as part of new EV joint venture | The Verge
Rivian blazed a trail with its adventure EVs — can it stay on top? | The Verge
Rivian R2 revealed: a $45,000 electric off-roader for the masses | The Verge
Rivian surprises with R3 and R3X electric SUVs | The Verge
Rivian puts its Georgia factory plans on pause | The Verge
Rivian’s R1 vehicles are getting a gut overhaul | The Verge
Rivian R1S review: king of the mountain | The Verge
Rivian’s long, narrow road to profit | WSJ
Tesla’s Share of U.S. Electric Car Market Falls Below 50% | NYT

Transcript: https://www.theverge.com/e/23965790

Credits:

Decoder is a production of The Verge, and part of the Vox Media Podcast Network.

Our producers are Kate Cox and Nick Statt. Our editor is Callie Wright. Our supervising producer is Liam James.

The Decoder music is by Breakmaster Cylinder.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Previous Episode

What happened to the metaverse?

This week I’m talking to Matthew Ball, who was last on the show in 2022 to talk about his book “The Metaverse: How it Will Revolutionize Everything.” It’s 2024 and it’s safe to say that has not happened yet. But Matt’s still on the case — in fact he just released an almost complete update of the book, now with the much more sober title, “Building the Spatial Internet.”

Matt and I talked a lot about where the previous metaverse hype cycle landed us, and what there is to learn from these boom and bust waves. We talked about the Apple Vision Pro quite a bit; if you read or watched my review when it came out, you’ll know I think the Vision Pro is almost an end point for one set of technologies. I wanted to know if Matt felt the same and what needs to happen to make all of this more mainstream and accessible.

Links:

Fully revised and updated edition to the “The Metaverse” | W.W. Norton
Apple Vision Pro review: magic, until it’s not | The Verge
Apple’s Vision Pro: five months later | Vergecast
Is the metaverse going to suck? A conversation with Matthew Ball | Decoder
Interviewing Meta CTO Andrew Bosworth on the Metaverse, VR/AR, AI | Matthew Ball
Interviewing Epic CEO Tim Sweeney and author Neal Stephenson | Matthew Ball
An Interview with Matthew Ball about Vision Pro and the state of gaming | Stratechery
Tim Sweeney explains how the metaverse might actually work | The Verge
Fortnite is winning the metaverse | The Verge
Is the Metaverse Just Marketing? | NYT

Credits:

Decoder is a production of The Verge, and part of the Vox Media Podcast Network.

Our producers are Kate Cox and Nick Statt. Our editor is Callie Wright. Our supervising producer is Liam James.

The Decoder music is by Breakmaster Cylinder.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Next Episode

The Supreme Court ruling that could kill net neutrality

The Supreme Court has just taken on the entire idea of the US administrative state — and the Court is winning. Earlier this month, a conservative majority overturned a longstanding legal principle called Chevron deference. The implications are enormous for every possible kind of regulation — and net neutrality looks poised to be the first victim. Verge editor Sarah Jeong joins me to explain why.

Links:

Transcript:

Credits:

Decoder is a production of The Verge, and part of the Vox Media Podcast Network.

Our producers are Kate Cox and Nick Statt. Our editor is Callie Wright. Our supervising producer is Liam James.

The Decoder music is by Breakmaster Cylinder.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices