Amazon Deliveries, Powered by Rivian

Working to save millions of metric tons of carbon per year

By Rivian

July 21^st, 2022

Rivian electric delivery vehicles (EDVs) will start officially delivering to Amazon customers in more than a dozen cities including Baltimore, Chicago, Dallas, Kansas City, Nashville, St. Louis, Seattle and San Diego, with more areas coming soon.

“This is a pivotal moment for Rivian’s commercial vehicle business and our relationship with Amazon,” said Dagan Mishoulam, VP Strategy & Go To Market at Rivian. “It’s also the beginning of a shift in commercial transportation that has the potential to reduce carbon emissions by millions of metric tons.”

Our vans are the result of intense research, prototyping and field-testing, all in close collaboration with Amazon drivers and fleet managers. The goal: to design and engineer a vehicle and support infrastructure that would raise the bar for safety, efficiency and performance in commercial fleets. We also wanted to ensure our technology made important progress in the world’s transition to sustainable mobility.

Research for the van involved ride-alongs with Amazon delivery drivers, listening to their feedback and looking for new ways to help them work. Since 2021, our preproduction electric delivery vehicles have logged over 90,000 miles and delivered more than 430,000 packages during testing.

“The whole team came together to design, engineer and manufacture a product that creates a positive experience for the driver, so that they are as safe and comfortable as possible,” says Jon Woodmore, Senior Director for Commercial Vehicle Production Line at Rivian. “This all adds up to a meaningful contribution to improving their workday, with downstream benefits to Amazon’s customers.”

“We wanted to make sure drivers loved to use these vans. That meant optimizing each small experience.”

That experience starts with innovative safety features — not just for the driver, but for those outside the van, including pedestrians, cyclists and other motorists. The van has an oversized rear tail light to make it visible to other drivers. The huge windshield and raised driver’s seat combine with external-facing cameras and sensors to give drivers exceptional visibility, especially in tight spaces. And its advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) provide automatic emergency braking, pedestrian back-up warning, rear cross-traffic warning, lane-keeping assist, blind spot warning, adaptive cruise control and more. Working with Amazon gave us insight into what features would be most helpful during last mile deliveries. Inside and out, the van was designed around the driver.

When the driver shifts into park, the bulkhead door automatically opens for quick access to the cargo area. When the driver exits with their cargo, the bulkhead door automatically closes behind them. The sideview mirrors are heated to ensure visibility in cold weather. The driver’s seat is heated and cooled, and the steering wheel and folding jump seat are heated, which helps drivers and passengers get comfortable quickly while using minimal energy.

The van’s user interface has also been customized for last-mile delivery. Among the unique features created specifically for the vehicle, we integrated Amazon’s own delivery route software application to improve its usability and safety while driving. With regular software updates, the van will only get better over time.

“The EDV is in neighborhoods, around kids and families, so the exterior leans into a friendly appearance while still communicating its technology.”

Alongside the van, we also developed a fleet support infrastructure to ensure that fleets never have to slow down.

Rivian FleetOS is our cloud-based enterprise software that gives managers comprehensive oversight of their operations. Rivian’s service and support for Amazon starts with the van's connected vehicle platform, which provides data to help our technicians remotely identify and resolve many service needs. For issues that need hands-on attention, there’s Rivian Mobile Service, our network of technicians who arrive on-site to get vehicles back online, or to transport them to one of our Service Centers.

“In 2019, Rivian and Amazon committed to fast-tracking a new type of delivery vehicle that would result in a significant reduction of carbon emissions,” says RJ Scaringe, founder and CEO of Rivian. “Thanks to our teams’ dedication, hard work and collaboration, and a shared commitment to make the world a better place for our kids’ kids, that vision is now being realized. To say this is an exciting moment is an understatement. We’re thrilled to see that this partnership has kickstarted decarbonization projects across the logistics delivery industry.”

Amazon's deployment of EDVs throughout the United States marks an important step toward fulfilling Amazon’s Climate Pledge, a commitment to net-zero carbon emissions by 2040. Rivian is set to deliver 100,000 vans to Amazon that, once they’re in service, will save millions of metric tons of carbon per year.