Rivian spin-off Also plans to branch out into the autonomous vehicle space. The company, which unveiled its first product last year, announced on Tuesday that it will work with DoorDash to develop and deploy self-driving delivery vehicles.
"The intersection of roads and road-adjacent spaces, such as bike lanes, shoulders and curbsides, are the areas that make up the hardest part of the last-mile delivery puzzle," the company said in a press release. "This partnership is focused on unlocking those spaces."
DoorDash is investing in Also as part of its $200 million Series C funding round, which values it at $1 billion.
Also unveiled its first line of products in October: a high-end e-bike called the TM-B, plus a pedal-assist quad called the TM-Q that will be available in both commercial and consumer variants. The vehicles share a basic technology platform that includes a novel pedal-by-wire system and the same battery cells that power Rivians. Its first bikes will be delivered this spring. Amazon plans to deploy the TM-Q for urban deliveries.
Now Also is broadening its ambitions beyond human-driven vehicles. In a way, the move shouldn't be all that surprising. Rivian, whose e-bike project eventually turned into the standalone company, has made self-driving technology increasingly central to its future as of late.
It aims to bring lidar to the R2 later this year and roll out eyes-off driving features in 2027. It announced plans to make its own self-driving chips. This month, it struck a deal with Uber potentially worth $1.25 billion to add up to 50,000 R2 robotaxis to the ride-hailing platform.
It's not clear where the autonomous technology will come from, and if Rivian will have a hand in that. There's also no word as to the form these new autonomous vehicles will take. They likely wouldn't need pedals, windshields, handlebars, or any of the features of a human-driven bike.
The Also vehicles wouldn't be DoorDash's first foray into autonomous delivery. The company's in-house developed robot, Dot, looks like a bright-red baby carriage with lidar sensors on it and is in pilot deployment in Phoenix. A few other cities have delivery robots trundling down sidewalks (and occasionally getting kicked over) too, but the technology isn't available on a large scale yet.
Contact the author: Tim.Levin@InsideEVs.com
