TechCrunch Mobility: Rivian’s savior | TechCrunch

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We’re in the midst of one of my four favorite times of the year – earnings season. And it’s not just that I like numbers. These required deposits cut through a lot of the marketing noise companies make during the rest of the year. It also helps me evaluate the risks that companies face in the short and long term.

RivianFourth-quarter and full-year earnings did just that. My takeaway: Software, specifically its technology joint venture with the Volkswagen Group, was the company’s savior in 2025. It will also support the company through 2026 (another $2 billion from the Volkswagen Group expected) as Rivian launches its most important product yet: the low-cost R2 SUV.

The company’s earnings also provided a progress report on its attempt to lower its cost of goods sold per unit. The TL;DR is that the gearing per unit of its current portfolio is still high but falling, meaning it loses less on each vehicle it sells. According to Rivian, the company’s vehicle gearing per unit delivered was $100,900 in 2025, down from $110,400 in 2024.

The next big test will be the upcoming R2, which is supposed to be much cheaper (in terms of production cost and price) than its flagship R1T truck and R1S SUV. We’ll get an insight into the results of that later this year.

The R2 is expected to go into production in the first half of the year (we hear in June), and based on its 2026 guidance, Rivian is confident it has the demand and ability to ramp up production. The company expects to deliver between 62,000 and 67,000 cars in 2026, which could provide a 59% increase over last year. Rivian will deliver 42,247 vehicles in 2025, including its R1 consumer vehicle and electric delivery van (EDV).

The market loved this guidance, btw. Rivian stock rose 27% the day after it announced its earnings.

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Over the past 18 months, I’ve noticed a difference in how I do this Uber and Lyft Approaching AVs. Uber is making AV partnerships with every player it can. Lyft is falling behind. It turns out I’m not alone in this observation.

Insiders shared their confusion as to why Lyft hasn’t been more aggressive on this front. They noted that Lyft has about $1.8 billion in cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash, and recently announced a new $1 billion stock buyback program that represents about 15% of its market value, according to CNBC. Some may wonder why Lyft doesn’t invest in parts of the autonomous vehicle value chain like Uber does in exchange for stock buybacks.

Meanwhile, these little birds also pointed to a few senior executives who have left the company over the past year. Aurelien Nolf left his position as Vice President of Financial Planning, Analysis and Investor Relations to become CFO of Navan. Audrey Liu, who was executive vice president and head of rider safety and community, now works at Adobe. Amina Gill, who was vice president of safety and customer service, had just gotten a job at competitor Uber.

Got a tip for us? Email Kirsten Korosek at kirsten.korosec@techcrunch.com Or my Signal at kkorosec.07, or email Sean O’Kane at sean.okane@techcrunch.com.

Offers!

Direct followers of the mobility-crazy years, between 2015 and 2019, may remember the number of lidar companies that emerged during that period. Many of the dominant and most active companies have since closed, while some smaller companies have stuck to expansion.

takes evictionFor example. I remember a long time ago when Ouster had this little booth in the busy startup district (Eureka Park) at CES. Today, the company is much larger — thanks to sheer scale, its 2022 merger with rival Velodyne, and its acquisition of Sense Photonics in 2021. And it doesn’t look like it’s over.

The company recently acquired it Stereolabsa company that makes vision-based perception systems for robotics and industrial applications, for a combination of $35 million and 1.8 million shares.

As TechCrunch senior reporter Sean O’Kane noted in his article, the deal is the latest in a march toward consolidation among perception sensor suppliers. (Just last month, MicroVision bought the lidar technology assets of thriving, now-bankrupt Luminar for $33 million.)

So why all this activity? It’s complicated, as they say. In my view, the craze around “physical AI” has reignited interest and investment in sensor technologies, especially cameras.

Other deals that caught my attention…

neveran electric-only vehicle market, has raised $31 million in a Series A funding round led by Eclipse. Other backers include Ibex Investors, Lifeline Ventures, and JIMCO – the investment arm of the Saudi Jameel family (an early investor in Rivian).

NatilusA San Diego-based startup developing hybrid wing aircraft has raised $28 million in a Series A funding round led by Draper Associates. Other investors include Type One Ventures, The Veteran Fund, and Flexport, as well as new backers New Vista Capital, Soma Capital, Liquid 2 VC, VU Venture Partners, and Wave FX.

Notable Readings and Other Stories

Aurora It shared in its fourth-quarter and full-year earnings report that its self-driving trucks can now travel nonstop on a 1,000-mile route between Fort Worth and Phoenix — beyond what a human driver can legally accomplish. The company shared a number of other tidbits and financial data, which you can read about here.

the US Securities and Exchange Commission The investigation was closed Fisker Last year, TechCrunch was able to learn, thanks to a Freedom of Information Act request.

Lyft It launched Teen Accounts, a product that allows minors as young as 13 to book a trip without an adult in 200 U.S. cities, including Atlanta, Boston, Chicago and New York.

A new batch of videos gives us our best look at how to do it Rivian It has changed the manual version of the tailgate in its upcoming R2 SUV. These seemingly simple design details have life-and-death risks and come up in the electric vehicle industry, in particular Teslais under pressure to change the hidden electronic door handles.

The Trump administration officially rescinded the EPA’s 2009 “risk findings” that found greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide and methane to pose a threat to human health and well-being. This change would only affect tailpipe emissions from cars and trucks — if the EPA can get through the lengthy process of repealing the law, which will almost certainly include numerous lawsuits aimed at stopping it.

Uber We’ve closed a few dozen AV partnerships, and we’re starting to see the results of those deals. China Baidu Uber plans to launch automated taxis in Dubai next month, starting with selected locations within the Jumeirah area. Meanwhile, Chinese Robotaxi Company We are riding Uber announced a “significant expansion of their strategic partnership” to deploy at least 1,200 robotaxis across the Middle East through 2027, according to the two companies. As part of this, WeRide and Uber launched a robotaxi service in downtown Abu Dhabi.

Waymo Alphabet has pulled a human safety driver from its self-driving test vehicles in Nashville as the Alphabet-owned company gets closer to launching a robotaxi service in the city. Meanwhile, this tech-forward company faces a similar problem of ensuring that the doors of its robotaxis close properly. Solve it? pays DoorDash Gig workers shut down Waymo robotaxi doors. Waymo tells us this is a pilot program in Atlanta to enhance the efficiency of the autonomous vehicle fleet.

One final item from Waymo: The company has begun rolling out its sixth-generation “Waymo Driver,” which is integrated into the Zeekr RT (renamed Ojai) and will eventually be in the Hyundai Ioniq 5. Waymo has begun “fully autonomous operations” in the Ojai vehicle in San Francisco and Los Angeles and is offering access to employees. The audience will have to wait a bit.

Another thing…

Rivian It has pitched the upcoming R2 SUV as a more affordable model. What does “more affordable” mean? The company has thrown in around $45,000 and $50,000 as the base price. The company’s launch version of the R2, which will have dual-mode and premium all-wheel drive, will undoubtedly be more expensive. In our newsletter this week, we asked readers: “What’s your guess on how much the launch version will cost?”

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