Rivian has appointed Aidan Gomez, CEO and co-founder of generative AI firm Cohere, to its board of directors, a move signaling the automaker’s increased focus on leveraging artificial intelligence. Gomez, whose term on the board will run until 2026, brings extensive expertise in data science and artificial intelligence to Rivian.
Before founding Cohere in 2019 alongside Nick Frosst and Ivan Zhang, Gomez was a researcher at Google Brain, Google’s division specializing in deep learning, where he contributed to the groundbreaking 2017 research paper, “Attention Is All You Need,” which became foundational for numerous generative AI developments today. Cohere, now a prominent generative AI provider, delivers AI foundation model training to enterprise clients including Oracle and Notion.
Rivian is actively pushing into software and AI-driven enhancements as key aspects of its competitive strategy within the EV market. This appointment arrives at a critical juncture as Rivian navigates its expansive $5.8 billion joint venture agreement with Volkswagen Group, aimed at creating sophisticated software and electrical architectures. Under this collaboration, Rivian will share its electrical architecture expertise and potentially offer intellectual property licenses to the joint venture. Eventually, the new venture could market these tech solutions to other automotive manufacturers.
Separately, Rivian has also been independently developing its AI assistant framework since 2023, as previously disclosed by Wassym Bensaid, the company’s chief software officer. This proprietary framework operates outside the scope of its VW partnership.
In a statement commenting on the board appointment, Rivian’s founder and CEO RJ Scaringe highlighted Gomez’s distinctive capabilities, adding: “His thinking and expertise will support Rivian as we integrate new, cutting-edge technologies into our products, services, and manufacturing operations.”
