Amazon.com Inc AMZN and Ford Motor Co F backed electric vehicle maker Rivian has filed for a patent with the U.S. Patent and Trademark office for a sliding door for a minivan-styled vehicle.
What Happened: The sliding-door patent was filed in May last year and the accompanying image in the document shows what appears to be a minivan that resembles a Honda Odyssey, Electrek first noted.
The patent does mention the minivan as an “illustrative” example and further details the unique door system that can slide open completely on a smaller rail footprint.
This is among one of the hundred patents filed by Rivian and doesn't necessarily indicate plans for a future minivan from the electric automaker.
The Irvine, California-based electric vehicle maker, which resonates as an adventure brand, could be working on something similar as it has a commercial commitment with the e-commerce partner Amazon for deliveries.
See Also: Amazon-Backed Rivian Rolls 1st Electric Pickup Off Assembly Line, Beating Likes Of Tesla, Ford
Why It Matters: Rivian had early on signed a deal with Amazon to provide commercial electric vehicles to support deliveries. As part of the deal, Rivian is expected to build up to 100,000 electric delivery trucks. The first batch of 10,000 would be delivered by the end of 2022, and the remaining 90,000 by 2030.
The electric vehicle maker has recently raced past market leader Tesla Inc TSLA and others, successfully rolling out its R1T pickup off the assembly line from its manufacturing plant in Normal, Illinois. The deliveries for the seven-seater R1S sports utility vehicle have been pushed back to fall.
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Photo: Courtesy of Richard Truesdell via Wikimedia
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