Ford Motor Company has called off plans of making an EV in partnership with Rivian Automotive, a Michigan based electric vehicle startup in which the automotive giant invested $500 million just a year.
Ford actually wanted to bring a luxury EV to the market using its Lincoln brand with the help of Rivian’s flexible skateboard platform but due to the current COVID-19 situation, all of these plans have been shelved. While Ford/Lincoln are currently distancing from Rivian’s cooperation, it is still possible for both companies to cooperate in the future, a Ford spokesperson told the AutomotiveNews:
This was a decision that was mutually made by Lincoln and Rivian given the rapidly changing environment and after a review of product plans. As we moved through the development cycle, we determined that it would be better to pivot from the Rivian’s skateboard platform and focus our development efforts on Lincoln’s own fully electric vehicle.
Since Lincoln is on a mission to build its own EV when the situation is all good, but the parent company Ford still aims to continue its relationship with Rivian, accord to another AutoNews.com report, Alexandra Ford English the daughter of Ford Chairman Bill Ford is all set to join Rivian’s board.
Last year Rivian was shooting for the stars with multiple investment rounds from Amazon, Ford, Cox Automotive in addition to the 100,000 electric delivery vans order for e-commerce giant Amazon.
For nearly a decade, our team operated in stealth mode. Now, we’re pulling back the curtain. #adventurousforever https://t.co/v3xOSaNtpG pic.twitter.com/liElRQNcj8
— Rivian (@Rivian) February 6, 2020
During the COVID-19 social distancing protocol, Rivian’s engineering and testing team is working remotely and with the help of cutting edge software, the automaker has found ways to perform testing and validation of their vehicles remotely, as we can see in the following animated gif they posted in one of their stories.
Rivian describes this testing as:
From his kitchen table in Southern California, Pete, one of our development engineers, is keeping kinematics and compliance testing on schedule – even though the vehicle he’s working on is in North Carolina.
@Rivian testing the R1T with remote engineering!https://t.co/NgiJRkQDhS pic.twitter.com/pQGHiX5cxC
— Tesla - X Auto (@XAutoWorld100) May 2, 2020