Apple & Rivian Reportedly in Partnership Talks

[Yellow5]

As an investor, it would whole hog awesome to have apple buying RIVIAN for IPO price. That said, the likelihood of that occurring is basically nothing. RJ has spoken at length on their desire for a controlled software stack, having that allows a walled garden approach, which is all that apple wants to do.

The best realistic news that could come from this is a public announcement sharing apples intent to offer full self driving, but only on RIVIAN automobiles, at some point in the next couple years. Apple is the only company that has a shot to do it right, and RIVIAN is the only vendor with powerful enough branding to make it a viable choice for Apple. The residuals for both companies could be significant. I'm thinking subscription model, approximately 200 dollars per month per vehicle, partitioned in some way to both companies.

If that happens, I'm certain there will be some financing to get Georgia up and running quickly so Apple can get a lot of exposure and returns on their investment. That scenario is still in the tail of the good side, but it is what I'm hoping to hear down the road.

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[chanuvarma]

Details very light:

https://www.investors.com/news/apple-rivian-in-talks-for-partnership/


Apple (AAPL) is in talks with EV maker Rivian(RIVN) about a possible partnership, DigiTimes reported Monday night.

Taiwan-based Digitimes cited supply chain sources. But it's unclear what any such alliance would entail. Apple canceled its long-running "Project Titan" Apple Car in late February.

Translated DigiTimes Article:

https://www.digitimes.com.tw/tech/dt/n/shwnws.asp?CnlID=1&Cat=90&id=0000691611_3Y27SNDX0413BI2HC2PL0

H/t to: kenypowa on reddit

It was recently reported that Apple has put a sudden brake on its "Project Titan", commonly known as Apple Car, in order to shift related resources to generative AI. However, Apple has invested 10 years and spent an average of 1 billion US dollars per year. Will this be written off? The answer is probably no.

Recently, there have been rumors in the supply chain that Apple is discussing the possibility of cooperation with a new car-making force in the United States. Even though the demand for electric vehicles is currently sluggish and the capital market is on the sidelines, American start-ups trapped in selling one car at a loss are under great pressure to survive. However, there are still some new car manufacturers that are close to emerging from mass production hell, and their order visibility is not bad.

Currently, Rivian is the one most vocal in contacting Apple. Although Rivian is still strapped for funds and cannot escape the wave of layoffs, its cooperation in building cars for Amazon continues, and it is rumored that order visibility in the second half of 2024 is not bad.

Apple has accumulated 10 years of high-end self-driving research and development energy, but it has never been able to put it on the road. If we take the opportunity of cooperating with Rivian to instill the software into fleets that are already on the road, we can achieve benefits in the shortest time. Starting from basic L2+, we can effectively test it, and quickly follow the opening of various markets to L3 or higher-level self-driving. , fast and seamless connection. The key to entering the smart driving track is the effective acquisition and utilization of data.

However, at present, it is only known that Apple is negotiating, and the outside world cannot know its purpose and method of cooperation.

If Apple and Rivian join hands, there will be another indirect contact, namely Amazon. There may be room for imaginable cooperation between them in the future of generative AI.

Apple is currently the only player in the mobile phone industry that has not announced its generative AI layout, and is resuming negotiations with Open AI; while Amazon has already launched its layout in high-end AI computing and chip self-research, and its heavily invested AI start-up Anthropic is in Apple. The App Store launched the chatbot application "Claude" and so on.

In the automotive field, generative AI is currently mainly developed in three areas: first, smart voice assistants for smart cockpits; second, using generative AI to simulate various assisted driving situations; third, car manufacturing and export systems.

As far as smart cockpit voice assistants are concerned, representative companies include cooperation between Mercedes-Benz and Microsoft, Volkswagen and Cerence, etc.

In fact, Amazon has also made efforts in the smart cockpit operating system, which has been embedded in the car body and specifically cooperates with certain car manufacturers. Apple has been using Carplay to connect car cabins and has widely connected with various car manufacturers. In the future, AI mobile phone functions may focus more on this aspect.

It is worth noting that Rivia and Tesla initially chose not to introduce CarPlay, and in recent years General Motors (GM) followed up and refused to connect, which has caused dissatisfaction among some consumers, which shows that Apple has a strength that is difficult to replace.

In addition, generative AI has also begun to involve assisted driving and high-end self-driving, such as the cooperation between Bosch and Microsoft. Industry players pointed out that currently this field is still dominated by cloud exercises. Generative AI can significantly reduce testing work through simulation, data analysis, etc. to speed up development and reduce costs; while Apple Car is still This acceleration tool is not used.

As for the car sales and service system, it is less directly related to Apple, which is rumored not to make cars. However, consumers may be more connected through its product sales system, etc., and the potential for cultivation cannot be ignored.

Industry insiders pointed out that the main reason for the mobile phone group to enter electric vehicles is to expand the applicable data platform, from mobile phones, homes, cars to various network connections. For Apple, expanding the connectable areas as much as possible is the best starting point for investing in generative AI.

If this happens, nothing like it! we will know in today's earnings call, if this is real!

 

[1T2022]

wait a minute. Both company will hold a significant event today

 

[WorldComposting]

I wonder if this is some sort of investment in Rivian while giving Apple vehicle information for self driving. Data can be quite lucrative and they could anonymize the data to not give personal information.

Other thought would be getting Apple music and Apple TV+ on the Rivian which would help drive convince people to buy vehicle data plans later.

 

[virgnia_rivian]

wait a minute. Both company will hold a significant event today

Apple is announcing new iPads. That's the event.
OLED screens M4 chips.

 

[BigSkies]

Most likely this is fake news designed for stock market manipulation. If there's one thing Apple and Rivian are good at, it's keeping secrets.

If it's real news, I'm going to speculate that it's probably navigation related.

Apple has really good maps and navigation. Rivian needs help with maps and navigation.

ABRP has the best EV routing data, and is developing real-world data with charger scores. This is data that would be very valuable to a map provider that wants to provide EV relevant navigation.

 

[Krs71]

Rivian an Apple company sounds nice but I don't think RJ is going to give up creative/engineering control to Apple, RJ may not want the software part anymore and can switch to new Apple CarPlay as the digital console or make it an option, but I think it will be more of a Apple investment into Rivian, and the R3 and R3X would be perfect Apple quirky cars to introduce as a Apple car.

 

[defcon888]

B

As an investor, it would whole hog awesome to have apple buying RIVIAN for IPO price. That said, the likelihood of that occurring is basically nothing. RJ has spoken at length on their desire for a controlled software stack, having that allows a walled garden approach, which is all that apple wants to do.

The best realistic news that could come from this is a public announcement sharing apples intent to offer full self driving, but only on RIVIAN automobiles, at some point in the next couple years. Apple is the only company that has a shot to do it right, and RIVIAN is the only vendor with powerful enough branding to make it a viable choice for Apple. The residuals for both companies could be significant. I'm thinking subscription model, approximately 200 dollars per month per vehicle, partitioned in some way to both companies.

If that happens, I'm certain there will be some financing to get Georgia up and running quickly so Apple can get a lot of exposure and returns on their investment. That scenario is still in the tail of the good side, but it is what I'm hoping to hear down the road.

before I read your post I thought "No, No, not going to happen", but now, I can see it happening, the question is "Will it happen?". I don't think Apple wants to run a car company but partner with one that has brand recognition and outside of Tesla, Rivian is usually the next EV mentioned in conversations (Lucid as well, but their Q1 deliveries were down). Kia, Hyundai, Ford...they all have the EV's but those are large established companies.....Apple wants (from what I read) is something they can grow.

I think if Apple and Rivian work together, it will be more of the interface and connectivity of services into 1 cohesive environment instead of Tim Cook and team designing the "iRivian" or "AirRivian"

 

[Kidentist]

Should have got in at $8........

 

[White Shadow]

I mentioned this a month ago....Apple wanted to get into the EV space, but their project died. It was more about autonomous vehicles than specifically EVs, so if that's still a stretch goal for them, I can only see them partnering with Rivian to develop autonomy in Rivian vehicles. I can't see what would be in it for Apple unless they have more skin in the game though...

 

[White Shadow]

Should have got in at $8........

It's only at $10.50 right now, so plenty of opportunity if you think prices will rise.

 

[Golfer04]

That is entirely possible as well vs. Apple outright buying Rivian.

As somebody who has been in corporate finance over 20 years I think Rivian's way forward will be interesting to watch. The corporate/stock structure essentially gives RJ complete control of Rivian. He owns 100 percent of a second class of stock. In order for the company to sell or change management a majority of all stock classes must approve. You can get a company off the ground that way, but you won't succeed (IMO) getting much needed capital infused keeping it that way. Probably why partnership is being discussed and not any sort of ownership. This is also why those expecting Amazon to come in and save the day will be wrong (unless changes are made). Nobody is going to put substantial money into a ship taking on water with no real way to hold management accountable. I love Rivian, but so far RJ has been better at firing CFOs and COOs than has been at looking in the mirror for the problem. WAY to much capital spending too soon. Supposedly first CFO told him that and got shown the door.

 

[Stickboy46]

Apple is announcing new iPads. That's the event.
OLED screens M4 chips.

'one more thing..."

 

[edman007]

Apple has really good maps and navigation. Rivian needs help with maps and navigation.

ABRP has the best EV routing data, and is developing real-world data with charger scores. This is data that would be very valuable to a map provider that wants to provide EV relevant navigation.

I really don't think this is about nav. Rivian has gotten a lot better, and they have stated they wanted to try and profit from it. I don't think they want help, definitely not from the company pushing carplay and trying to monetize the same thing Rivian wants to monetize.

What I think they are trying to do is Media, people talk about Netflix support and YouTube and YouTube music. Why not integrate apple music and Apple TV? That's what Rivian wants to do, get all the media companies to provide media to their vehicle.

 

[COdogman]

As somebody who has been in corporate finance over 20 years I think Rivian's way forward will be interesting to watch. The corporate/stock structure essentially gives RJ complete control of Rivian. He owns 100 percent of a second class of stock. In order for the company to sell or change management a majority of all stock classes must approve. You can get a company off the ground that way, but you won't succeed (IMO) getting much needed capital infused keeping it that way. Probably why partnership is being discussed and not any sort of ownership. This is also why those expecting Amazon to come in and save the day will be wrong (unless changes are made). Nobody is going to put substantial money into a ship taking on water with no real way to hold management accountable. I love Rivian, but so far RJ has been better at firing CFOs and COOs than has been at looking in the mirror for the problem. WAY to much capital spending too soon. Supposedly first CFO told him that and got shown the door.

Agree it will be interesting which path Rivian takes. I don’t blame RJ for trying to keep a tight grip on his vision - so far they have built a brand and customer loyalty that most CEOs would kill for. But I also agree they have made multiple unforced errors when it comes to just day to day business operations and that needs to change or they won’t survive.

A partnership with Apple of some form would be a great thing for Rivian. I am skeptical because I don’t see what Rivian has to offer Apple in exchange, except for control or data. Apple seems to be very smart about who they partner with and if it doesn’t clearly benefit them, they usually won’t do it.

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