Rivian Honored for Excellence at Annual Great Designs in Steel Symposium
The American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI) awarded its Automotive Excellence Award Wednesday 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 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.
AISI noted: “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.
“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,” AISI said in a statement.
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.