Rivian opens tech centre in Belgrade
The US electric car startup Rivian has opened its first location outside North America with a technology centre in the Serbian capital Belgrade. In the long term, 1,200 developers are to be employed there.
The technology centre has now started with 200 engineers. In Serbia, the company primarily wants to push IT and software development. A report specifically mentions infotainment, mapping technology and also “advanced driver assistance systems”.
As Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic stated at the opening, negotiations and work had been going on in the background for “at least a year and a half”. “This arrival is very significant for us,” Vucic said. “Rivian is the most innovative company in the whole world when it comes to electric vehicles.”
“We need the best engineers, we chose Belgrade on purpose and I am happy that we can welcome our new colleagues,” said Wassym Bensaid, Senior Vice President of Software Development at Rivian.
However, it will probably remain at the development location for the time being: Rivian has already been rumoured to have various plans for vehicle production in Europe, for example for its electric SUVs and pickups. A memorandum of understanding was signed with Mercedes-Benz in September to jointly build electric vans. However, this project was recently stopped by the company because it wanted to concentrate on the B2B and B2C business in the USA in order to achieve a positive cash flow there.
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