The joint venture will give VW access to Rivian's electrical architecture and they will co-develop software. The billion dollars is an initial investment. Step two was ensuring that the Rivian tech will work with VW tech. Once the government approves the investment, the billion dollars will be converted into shares of Rivian in December. It seems like a win-win for both companies. Rivian needs cash, and VW has had issues the last couple years developing software.