Rivian Receives Automotive Excellence Award at Annual Great Designs in Steel Symposium

NOVI, Mich. – The American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI) awarded its Automotive Excellence Award today to a team from Rivian for their groundbreaking demonstration of best practices in high-strength steel utilization for automotive body structures. The award was presented at the 24th annual Great Designs in Steel (GDIS) symposium on Wednesday, May 20 at the Vibe Credit Union Showplace in Novi, Mich.

The award-winning project, titled “Rivian R1 Body Structure Evolution and Repairability,” was presented at GDIS 2025 by Dan Black, Venu Krishnardula and Matt Tummers of Rivian. The presentation highlighted the company’s strategic shift toward a more cost-effective, higher performing body structure architecture for its R1 platform.  The award was presented to Black, Krishnardula and Tummers, along with their co-authors and contributors Abhishek Das, David Sosa and John Hasier of Rivian.

Selected by members of AISI’s Automotive Applications Council, the project was recognized for its demonstration of an integrated design approach to enhancing safety and structural performance while reducing cost and ensuring long-term serviceability through the creative use of advanced high-strength steel grades.  

Against a backdrop of increasingly stringent crash performance requirements and evolving Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) test protocols, the award-winning work demonstrated how Rivian redesigned the R1’s front structure cross members to achieve exceptional crash energy management while supporting broader vehicle performance goals.  

The presentation detailed the transition from its first-generation R1 (Gen 1) mixed‑material architecture with aluminum‑intensive floor and frame elements to a more steel‑optimized, cost‑efficient and crash‑enhanced solution in R1 (Gen 2). This enhancement was enabled by technologies such as tailor rolled blanks, structural inserts and optimized joining strategies. These changes allowed Rivian to consolidate parts, reduce welded reinforcements and improve crash energy distribution in both frontal and side impacts. 

Detailed comparisons of R1 Gen 1 and R1 Gen 2 floor structures, frame rails and cross members showed measurable gains in stiffness, energy absorption and mass efficiency, offering a clear model for the effective use of high-strength steel in electric vehicle architectures. Equally important, the team emphasized repairability as a core design and validation priority, outlining a rigorous multi-iteration collision repair development process spanning computer-aided engineering (CAE) modeling, component testing, correlation, durability validation and service part finalization. This approach helped ensure that frame rail damage from low- to moderate-speed impacts can be addressed through repeatable, OEM-approved repair procedures. 

“I’m proud of how various teams across Rivian came together to develop a solution that improved manufacturability and serviceability,” said Rivian Materials Engineering Senior Manager Venu Krishnardula. “These changes will extend the vehicle life, while also contributing to overall sustainability.”  

Volkswagen also received an honorable mention for the VW ID.Buzz body-in-white construction presentation by Eike Schuppert.  With its steel dominant architecture, the ID.Buzz is an excellent demonstration of an efficient structural strategy meeting this unique vehicle’s crashworthiness, strength, and stiffness targets. The vehicle has received numerous awards including 2025 North American Utility Vehicle of the 2025 Year and World Car Design of the Year, and the committee congratulates Mr. Schuppert and the Volkswagen team for their innovative use of steel in the ID.Buzz architecture. 

The AISI Automotive Excellence Award is presented each year at GDIS. It recognizes individuals or teams from automakers, suppliers or the academic community who help to revolutionize the industry and have made significant contributions to the advancement of steel in the automotive market. Award winners are chosen from presentations at the previous year’s GDIS symposium. Candidates are rated in several categories, including challenges and benefits associated with cost, mass reduction and performance and overall contribution to the advancement of steel and implementation in production.  

GDIS debuted in 2002 with 545 registrants and has grown in attendance and scope. In 2025, more than 1,000 attendees from the steel industry, North American vehicle manufacturers, Tier 1 suppliers, equipment suppliers, academia and media attended the event. AISI automotive program members include ArcelorMittal and Cleveland–Cliffs, Inc. This year’s GDIS featured 27 technical presentations on vehicle structure, manufacturing, materials and joining technologies. The agenda included a steel industry keynote address by John Cardwell, chief marketing officer and vice president of automotive sales for ArcelorMittal North America, and an automotive keynote addresses from Elizabeth Krear, CEO of the Center for Automotive Research. Featured OEMs including General Motors, Honda Development & Manufacturing of America, Hyundai-Kia America Technical Center Inc. and Rivian staff were also among those making technical presentations. 

Helping to support this year’s event are gold sponsors Gestamp, Profil and Sumitomo Heavy Industries, Ltd; silver sponsors Mubea, G-TEKT North America Corporation and RIFAST; bronze sponsors ArcelorMittal Tailored Blanks, AutoForm, Dreistern, eSevant / 4t Engineering, , FUCHS, GEDIA, GNS North America, Lincoln Electric, Multimatic, RB&W Corporation, Rhino Industrial Laser Solutions, TOX and TWB; media and industry partners Auto/Steel Partnership, Center for Automotive Research, WorldAutoSteel, Precision Metalforming Association and Fabricators and Manufacturers Association International.  

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Contact: Lisa Harrison

202.452.7115 / lharrison@steel.org

AISI serves as the voice of the American steel industry in the public policy arena and advances the case for steel in the marketplace as the preferred material of choice. AISI’s membership is comprised of integrated and electric arc furnace (EAF) steelmakers, steel pipe and tube manufacturers and steel processors and fabricators, reflecting the production and distribution of both carbon and stainless steels. These steels are critical to America’s national and economic security, including roads and bridges, buildings, the electrical grid, cars and trucks and all clean energy technologies. AISI also represents associate members who are suppliers to or customers of the steel industry. For more news about steel and its applications, view AISI’s website at www.steel.org. Follow AISI on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter (@AISISteel) or Instagram.