Rivian’s expansion into the broader world of transportation is accelerating through its micromobility spinoff, ALSO. On Tuesday, the startup announced a major multi-year commercial agreement with DoorDash to develop and deploy autonomous delivery vehicles at scale.
According to the announcement, the partnership coincides with a $200 million Series C funding round for ALSO, valuing the company at $1 billion and led by Greenoaks Capital with participation from DoorDash. This fresh capital brings ALSO’s total funding to approximately $505 million since it was spun out of Rivian in March 2025. As part of the deal, DoorDash Co-Founder Stanley Tang will join ALSO’s board as an observer.
Solving the Last-Mile Challenge
The partnership focuses on a specific pain point in logistics: the "last mile" of delivery. While ALSO’s previous deal with Amazon centered on human-operated e-cargo quads, this agreement is explicitly about autonomy. The goal is to create small, self-driving electric vehicles that can navigate the tricky intersection of roadways and bike lanes.
“Last-mile delivery is a physical-world challenge and the details matter, from curb access to making sure an order arrives on time and intact,” Tang said. He noted that ALSO is building "purpose-built EVs that are designed to unlock new ways to meet customers and merchants where they are."
ALSO’s current product lineup includes the TM-B, a Class 3 electric bike, and the TM-Q, a four-wheel pedal-assist quad. The commercial version of the TM-Q can carry over 400 pounds while still being able to fit in a bike lane, and it will likely serve as the foundation for these autonomous delivery robots. These vehicles leverage Rivian’s battery technology and software, allowing them to operate efficiently in dense urban environments where full-sized vans struggle.
Rivian’s Broader Ecosystem
The success of ALSO is a testament to Rivian’s strategy of spinning out its skunkworks projects into standalone companies. Apart from ALSO, Rivian also spun off Mind Robotics, which focuses on AI-powered industrial robots and recently secured $500 million in its own funding round.
Meanwhile, Rivian itself is focusing on its biggest launch yet: the R2 midsize SUV. The R2 platform is becoming a central pillar of Rivian’s business, as the company recently signed a $1.25 billion deal with Uber to build dedicated R2 robotaxis. By leveraging the same autonomy hardware and custom silicon across its consumer cars, delivery quads, and industrial robots, the Rivian ecosystem is becoming a massive player in the AI space.
As ALSO prepares to begin deliveries of its premium e-bikes this spring, the DoorDash deal ensures that its future in autonomous logistics is well-funded. We are quickly moving toward a world where your next food order might be dropped off by a vehicle born in a Rivian lab.
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As Rivian prepares for its biggest production ramp yet, the company is quietly building out the executive team needed to support a massive influx of new owners. A recent move to fill two high-level leadership positions signals that major updates are on the horizon for both Rivian Insurance and Rivian Care, the company’s in-house protection programs.
The expansion was first highlighted by Rivian enthusiast Chris Hilbert (@Hilbe), who shared a call for talent from Mike Slattery, Rivian’s Head of Insurance. Slattery’s announcement makes it clear that the company is looking to move beyond "business as usual" by leveraging its connected vehicle platform to rethink how insurance and warranties work.
Building a "High-Impact" Support Engine
The first of the two roles, the Sr. Program Operations Lead for Rivian Care, will serve as the "operational engine" behind the company’s vehicle protection products. This includes scaling high-impact programs like service contracts, windshield protection, and wheel and tire plans across multiple markets.
Currently, Rivian — whose name reflects a focus on the adventurous spirit of the Indian River — offers Rivian Care as a pilot program powered by Assurant. It is designed to protect vehicles like the R1T and R1S beyond their standard manufacturer’s warranty, covering critical components like the high-voltage battery and drivetrain. With a dedicated operations lead now joining the team, it’s likely that this pilot phase is nearing an end in favor of a more robust, permanent program.
The Future of Connected Insurance
The second position is an Insurance Agency Leader based on the ground at Rivian’s manufacturing hub in Bloomington/Normal, Illinois. Slattery noted that this leader will be tasked with driving profitability while keeping the owner experience central, all while "leveraging vehicle intelligence to fundamentally change how vehicle protection products actually work!"
Rivian Insurance is already a licensed agency available in all 50 U.S. states, but its potential is only just being tapped. Much like Tesla Insurance, which recently released its Safety Score 3.0 to further reward drivers who use the company’s Full Self-Driving (Supervised) system, Rivian is looking to use data-driven rates via its Driver+ system. By using the vehicle’s internal intelligence, Rivian can offer custom policies tailored to the exact risk profile of its drivers, making the transition from R1 to the mass market much smoother.
A mass-market vehicle brings a much broader audience, many of whom will expect first-party extended warranties and competitive insurance rates right out of the box. By scaling these leadership roles now, Rivian is ensuring it has the "operational engine" ready to handle tens of thousands of new R2 owners. This proactive hiring suggests that when the R2 configurator opens later this year, it will likely be accompanied by a more integrated and transparent suite of protection products than ever before.
Rivian is taking a major step toward closing the loop on battery life. The electric vehicle maker has officially announced a partnership with Redwood Materials to deploy a first-of-its-kind energy storage system at its Normal, Illinois, manufacturing facility. By repurposing more than 100 "second-life" battery packs from its vehicles, Rivian will create a 10 megawatt-hour (MWh) storage reservoir to help power the very plant where its cars are built.
This partnership is a massive win for sustainability. EV batteries are designed to be incredibly durable, often outlasting the vehicles themselves. Even when a pack is no longer ideal for high-performance driving, it still holds significant value for stationary storage. By utilizing these assets, Rivian is ensuring its environmental footprint remains as small as possible.
Repurposing for the R2 Ramp
The timing of this installation is particularly critical. Rivian’s Normal plant is currently gearing up for mass production of the R2, the company’s first affordable, mass-market SUV. After recently beating Q1 delivery estimates, the factory is under immense pressure to scale.
Rivian Wave
The new 10 MWh system will provide "dispatchable energy," meaning Rivian can pull power from these batteries during peak demand periods. This will not only lower energy costs for the company but also reduce the overall load on the local electrical grid, supporting reliability for the surrounding community.
“EVs represent a massive, distributed and highly competitive energy resource,” said Rivian Founder and CEO RJ Scaringe. “As energy needs grow, our grid needs to be flexible, secure, and affordable. Our partnership with Redwood enables us to utilize our vehicle’s batteries beyond the life of a vehicle and contribute to grid health and American competitiveness.”
Solving the Industrial Growth Constraint
The "secret sauce" behind this setup is Redwood’s proprietary Pack Manager technology. This system acts as a universal translator, allowing Redwood to communicate with and control different battery packs regardless of their original voltage or state of health.
JB Straubel, the founder and CEO of Redwood Materials (and former Tesla CTO), highlighted that the grid is currently struggling to keep up with the demands of modern manufacturing. “Electricity demand is accelerating faster than the grid can expand, posing a constraint on industrial growth,” Straubel said. “Our partnership with Rivian shows how EV battery packs can be turned into dispatchable energy resources, bringing new capacity online quickly, supporting critical manufacturing, and reducing strain on the grid without waiting years for new infrastructure. This is a scalable model for how we add meaningful energy capacity in the near term.”
A Scalable Model for the Future
This 10 MWh project is just the beginning. Redwood estimates that by 2030, the U.S. will need over 600 GWh of storage to stabilize the grid — a massive amount of energy equivalent to the Hoover Dam running for two months straight.
By turning old EV batteries into stationary assets before they are eventually recycled, companies can defer billions of dollars in costly infrastructure upgrades. As Rivian prepares to hand over the first R2 keys later this spring, its factory will be running on a smarter, more resilient energy loop that proves the "second life" of a battery is just as important as the first.
