It’s only been a few days since Volkswagen Group and Rivian struck a massive $5 billion deal. But it turns out that Volkswagen was already tapping into Rivian’s software expertise months before the partnership was announced.
A TechCrunch review of LinkedIn data reveals that Cariad, the struggling software arm of VW Group, has hired at least 23 of the startup’s top employees in the past few months. Cariad’s chief software officer, chief product security officer, two vice presidents and two lead engineers were hired from Rivian. Nearly all of the other hires came from senior software roles at Rivian, many of them this year.
The appointments precede any deal between Volkswagen and Rivian. The joint venture, which would allow the German giant to leverage Rivian’s software and electrical engineering skills, is still under construction. The joint venture is not expected to be formalized until the fourth quarter – details that were indicated by spokespersons for Volkswagen and Rivian.
However, the wave of new hires demonstrates Volkswagen’s – and more specifically Cariad’s – desire to capitalize on software talent. Those early appointments could prove fruitful when the joint venture comes together.
The appointments bolster Cariad’s efforts to build an outpost in Silicon Valley’s Mountain View called the SDV Hub — an acronym that gives a nod to the so-called software-defined vehicle that every automaker is chasing. The SDV Hub is the launch pad for Cariad’s next-generation software architecture, known as “software 2.0.”
In the fall of 2023, Cariad hired Sanjay Lal, who most recently led development of Rivian’s infotainment system and next-generation middleware across vehicles and the cloud, to lead the creation of the SDV center. Engineers at the SDV center in California – as well as some workers based in Germany under Lal’s leadership – are focusing on the software architecture 2.0 that is intended to be an operating system designed for all of the VW Group’s brands.
The center’s focus suggests that these same employees may be part of a potential joint venture between Volkswagen and Rivian. It should be noted that Rivian and Volkswagen spokespersons stated that the speculation is premature.
“We are initially focused on the smooth start of our joint venture with Rivian, and will comment on everything else at a later date,” Volkswagen said in an emailed statement.
While Cariad has more than 7,000 employees worldwide, the company’s footprint in North America is much smaller. The SDV center currently has about 230 employees, according to LinkedIn. That means new Rivian expats now make up about 10% of Cariad’s employee base in the region.
These appointments come at a time when Cariad is going through a restructuring process after years of struggle. Created in 2020, Cariad was supposed to accelerate advanced software development and electrical engineering for the Volkswagen Group’s big push toward electric vehicles. As Cariad grew in size, its problems worsened. The 1.2 software platform, developed for Audi and Porsche, was originally scheduled to be completed in 2022. Ongoing delays and other internal issues have led to several executive changes and are considered one of the reasons for the dismissal of Volkswagen Group CEO Herbert Diess in 2020. 2022.
Cariad, now under the direction of Peter Bosch, has successfully completed the 1.2 software architecture that will power the upcoming Porsche Macan EV. But it is the 2.0 architecture that aims to push all of the group’s brands into the same league as Tesla.
It’s bringing in talent like Rivian that has helped Cariad build its North American workforce over the past two years. Before the last few months, most of Cariad’s employees in the region came from elsewhere within the Volkswagen Group, from automotive or software suppliers. A much smaller number were employees from technology companies, such as the director of software engineering at Cariad, who spent nearly a decade at Google.
Volkswagen and Cariad aren’t the only companies looking to startups like Rivian to build talent. Ford’s secretive low-cost electric car project has attracted workers from Rivian, Tesla, Lucid Motors and even Apple’s disbanded Titan project, as TechCrunch reported earlier this month.