News Summary

• The driver’s cabin and cargo area are ergonomically designed for comfort, and the driver’s side door has been strengthened to provide additional protection.Rivian’s first delivery in Europe comes several months after the EV startup and Mercedes-Benz paused their plans to jointly produce electric commercial vans there.
• The Rivian delivery vans in Europe are specially designed to be a shorter, thinner van than its U.S. counterparts to fit better on European roads.Amazon touted some of the custom vans’ features in a statement.
• Amazon last year said it plans to invest more than €1 billion to electrify its European transportation network.“Amazon is committed to reaching net-zero carbon by 2040, and reducing our delivery-related emissions is a critical part of this goal,” said Rocco Bräuniger, country manager for Amazon, in a statement.
• This will be Rivian’s first commercial shipment of vans outside the United States.The first tranche of 300 vans will be seen on streets in Munich, Berlin and Dusseldorf in the coming weeks.
• The vans have a large windshield to give the driver greater visibility and standard advanced driver assistance systems that feature automatic emergency braking, adaptive cruise control and collision warnings.
• The company has ordered 100,000 vans from Rivian, which it hopes to see fulfilled by 2030.Amazon said it began testing deliveries with Rivian pre-production vehicles in Europe last year.