Your Uber Driver Could Soon Be Replaced by Driverless Rivian R2s

Get ready to start seeing more Rivian R2s rolling around Los Angeles and San Francisco soon, but don’t be surprised before too long if you pull up beside one without a driver at the wheel. The American EV pickup and SUV manufacturer is partnering up with Uber to provide its midsize electric SUVs for the ride-hailing service’s emerging robotaxi fleet. And just as intriguing, Uber be using Nvidia’s driverless software in a separate deal.

The Rivian tie-up is the latest in a series of emerging partnerships between automakers and Uber, including a recent announcement with Lucid to supply its Gravity SUV. Volkswagen (with its own software and hardware ties to Rivian), Nissan, Zoox, and Stellantis are among the others in the mix to provide vehicles to Uber powered by Nvidia technology.

Human-Reliant Issues with R2 Robotaxis

While the benefits are obvious for both Rivian and Uber, there are a couple of issues we foresee with this partnership and both center around the R2 itself. To be clear, there’s nothing wrong with Rivian’s latest all-electric SUV, but there’s more to an autonomous robotaxi than just being able to drive itself around without a driver. The first issue: How will the R2’s doors close if a customer fails to do so when they hop out of the SUV? As silly as this question sounds, it’s not unusual for someone in a hurry to forget to close the door.

For a non-autonomous vehicle like your typical taxi or rideshare, there’s always a human to hop out and close it. Some dedicated robotaxis will also come with the ability for its doors to self-close. But the R2 isn’t a dedicated autonomous taxi and was designed to always have someone behind the wheel.

The solution for vehicles like the Rivian could be to utilize gig workers as “human helpers” to shut them, as Waymo has done. The other possibility is that Rivian could create and retrofit a self-closing door solution for the R2, but that could require quite a bit of re-engineering. Between the two options, the most likely short term solution is the hiring of human helpers, especially since Uber already has non-rideshare drivers in their ecosystem under its Uber Eats and Uber Courier divisions.

See All 12 Photos12

The other issue revolves around charging. Again, as designed, the R2 needs a human to plug and un-plug the vehicle from the charger. At present, Waymo uses a hub with human staff to deal with keeping its fleet of all-electric Jaguar i-Paces charged up.

Or they might not worry about plugging in at all. By utilizing inductive charging pads at dedicated parking areas, the autonomous R2 would potentially be able to pull in at its base for an overnight or fast charge without a wired connection needed. This idea would be another retrofit and engineering problem, but it’s an easier problem to solve than finding a way to stuff a servo or actuator in the R2’s door frames and hinges.

The easiest solution that wouldn’t require a home base might be the same one for the potential door closing issue: hire Uber drivers to meet its R2s at a public charger. It would require those gig drivers to stay with the vehicle to unplug them, but paying for that time might be cheaper than paying for a large parking space with charging infrastructure in Los Angeles and San Francisco.

Uber is Also Partnering with Nvidia Software

Arguably as big as the Uber tie up is that it announced that it will be using Nvidia technology. The ridesharing brand will utilize the computer hardware and software giant’s Drive AGX Hyperion 10 and Alpamayo AI modeling software for an unnamed Uber robotaxi fleet. It doesn’t mention how these autonomous driving solutions will be baked into other robotaxis, considering that many of the OEMs that have partnered with Uber have their own self-driving hardware and software made just for their own vehicles. Regardless, these unknown Hyperion controlled autonomous taxis will roam the streets of Los Angeles and San Francisco, which are expected to be on the road by the first half of 2027.

At the start of this program, the fleet will not be fully driverless as a driver will be inside for the first few months (or possibly the entirety of 2027, neither Uber nor Nvidia have speculated how long it would take). During this early period, Nvidia’s Alpamayo tech will be gathering data to be trained on driving within those two major California cities. At some point dictated by either Uber or Nvidia, the fleet will transition into a fully autonomous Level 4 robotaxi service.

By 2028, Uber expects up to 28 cities around the globe to be a part of its robotaxi using ride-hailing service. Uber didn’t say if these cities will start out with human-driven vehicles that will be trained as will be done in L.A. and San Francisco, or if they will come straight out as driverless.

As for current Uber drivers, at least in the short run, these are still pilot projects that will likely take years before the Uber robotaxis become commonplace. But it only seems like a matter of time before the majority of vehicles, whether they’re Rivians or otherwise, will arrive to pick you up with no driver at the wheel.

OPEN GALLERY