Meet RAD: Rivian's New Division Tasked With Pushing Limits

This public-facing skunkworks division is comprised of designers and engineers who explore the limits of Rivian vehicles.

Rivian Adventure Department

Photo by: Rivian

Jeff Glucker

By: Jeff Glucker

Feb 28, at 12:00pm ET

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The Breakdown

RAD stands for Rivian Adventure Department.
The team is comprised of Rivian designers, engineers, and adventure enthusiasts.
RAD is a skunkworks division tasked with pushing the limits of what Rivian vehicles can achieve.

Since launching in 2009, Rivian has been aggressively putting its production and prototype vehicles through rigorous challenges. The department in charge of these endeavors finally has a name: the Rivan Adventure Department, or RAD.

The RAD team is comprised of designers, engineers, and real-deal adventure enthusiasts. Rivian considers RAD a public-facing skunkworks department with the task of pushing its vehicles to their limits, and beyond.

Gallery: RAD — The Rivian Adventure Department

Rivian Adventure Department

Source: Rivian

This spirit of endeavor began six years ago, when Rivian took a pair of R1T prototypes to the bottom of South America. Since then, Rivian vehicles have competed in (and won) events like the Rebelle Rally and the Pikes Peak Hill Climb.

RAD's latest assignment unfolds in Big Sky, Montana. The team is attending the FAT Ice Race with its new quad-motor R1S. It's easy to spot the RAD Rivian, since it now sports a pretty sweet livery, along with a RAD logo on the door.

Rivian Adventure Department

Photo by: Rivian

The name is equal parts pretty great and kind of cheesy. Regardless, it's fun to see Rivian embrace the performance capabilities of its vehicles in all sorts of different ways. And the engineers can use any insights gleaned from the RAD team to make their vehicles that much better.

What do you think?

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Motor1's Take: Every automaker needs a team focused on the fun side of cars. Be it motorsport, adventure, or unique lifestyle experiences, an automaker needs to lean into what makes it appealing to its given customer base.

Rivian makes capable, fun electric vehicles, and we look forward to more examples wearing the RAD livery. Now, if the engineering team would just understand that a vehicle having Apple CarPlay is also rad.

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Source: Rivian

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