Tim Cook was spotted taking a spin in a Rivian’s electric pickup truck on Thursday, according to a report in Bloomberg. The Apple CEO is in Idaho for Allen & Co.’s Sun Valley Conference, where Rivian founder and CEO RJ Scaringe is also in attendance.
Known as the “summer camp for billionaires,” the Sun Valley Conference typically attracts powerful players from the media and finance worlds. Bloomberg cited sources familiar with the matter, who said Cook took a metallic green Rivian R1T downtown from the resort to get dinner.
Apple has been reportedly developing its own EV since at least 2015, but news of a possible car from the company resurfaced late last year. In November 2021, it was reported that the company had refocused its efforts on the development of an electric vehicle, concentrating on the car’s potential for autonomy.
Electric automaker Rivian impressed would-be buyers with its battery-powered pickup truck, which went into production at the end of 2021. Reviewing the company’s R1S truck, CNET’s Tim Stevens said: “While it’s hard to doubt that the Ford F-150 Lightning is the most significant electric truck of the moment — outside of the hyperbolic (and still nonexistent) Tesla Cybertruck — it’s the Rivian R1T that seems to have captured the hearts and minds of most would-be EV truckers.”
Bloomberg previously reported that Tesla CEO Elon Musk is also at this year’s Sun Valley Conference. Apple did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
