Robert Scaringe founded the company which, after three name changes, came to be known as Rivian. The company launched in 2009 with the goal of bringing electric and autonomous vehicles to the mass-market.

Rivian’s first vehicle project was a hybrid sports car which was canceled in 2011. In 2017 Rivian acquired a production facility and announced their upcoming electric pickup truck and SUV models. By 2019 the company had 750 employees and was gearing up for production of their two finished vehicle designs. Due to the pandemic-related computer chip shortage production was ultimately delayed. In spite of the production delays the company was still growing and, by 2021, had 9,000 employees and held an IPO where the company was valued at $66.5 billion and Ford acquired  12% equity in the company.  At the time of posting, Rivian is still having some production issues and recalls but has produced roughly 14,000 vehicles out of their 71,000 preorders.