Although still in the design stage, many of the features aim to boost driver efficiency and cut carbon emissions.
Although still in the design stage, many of the features aim to boost driver efficiency and cut carbon emissions.
E-commerce platform Amazon is working with electric vehicle maker Rivian to develop and deploy a fleet of 10,000 electric delivery vehicles this year and 100,000 such vehicles by 2030.
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The new delivery van aims to reduce carbon emissions and boost driver efficiency.
“Manufactured at Rivian’s plant in Normal, Illinois, they will come in three size variants and support multiple battery sizes so they can be customized for specific delivery routes,” an Amazon blog post said on Wednesday.
Rivian isn’t improving on the existing model, but is building a new customized vehicle to meet Amazon’s specific needs.
Some of the planned design features include automatic emergency braking, front wheel and all-wheel drive options, lane keeping assist, pedestrian warnings, traffic design recognition and automatic alerts for distracted driving behavior.
Amazon’s post says the vehicles will save “millions of metric tons of carbon” every year. Vehicles will also integrate Amazon Alexa to eliminate the need for other tools or programs to help drivers.
However, the news comes as Rivian CEO RJ Scaring announced this week via an internal memo that the company will be laying off 6%, or more than 800, of its 14,000-strong workforce. The head of the company cited economic circumstances for the decision.
Rivian stock is up 18.60% over the past month, but is down 43.96% over the past six months.
Meanwhile, Amazon stock rose 12.64% last month, but declined 15.98% over the past six months.