Rivian Robotaxi plans begin. Now hiring for Level 4 autonomous vehicles lead designer (job listing)

[Katsudon]

Via Sawyer Merritt and Chris Hilbert --

Looks like Rivian wants to begin development of a Level 4 autonomous vehicle / Robotaxi. Here's a new job listing the company just posted up:

Sponsored

 

[SDH]

Dear Rivian,

Please don’t waste your money at this stage. You’ve got a factory, plus a load of debt, to build and pay off. You’ve got service centres still underperforming. Focus your effort on rolling out R2 & 3 asap at high quality (recall early R1 QC wasnt exactly epic) and a price that‘ll ensure sufficient demand (thus profit) rather than blue sky rubbish that comes with a load of legal red tape and an ROI that’ll take decades to recoup.

 

[Luxus]

They are not wrong for trying to look ahead and not just resting on their laurels. Right or wrong, RJ believes this is the future of the auto industry and he would be negligent to ignore it for now. A project like this takes years to come to fruition. Hopefully the R2 launch goes well, although there are a lot of headwinds that are not Rivians fault.

 

[mkhuffman]

Dear Rivian,

Please don’t waste your money at this stage. You’ve got a factory, plus a load of debt, to build and pay off. You’ve got service centres still underperforming. Focus your effort on rolling out R2 & 3 asap at high quality (recall early R1 QC wasnt exactly epic) and a price that‘ll ensure sufficient demand (thus profit) rather than blue sky rubbish that comes with a load of legal red tape and an ROI that’ll take decades to recoup.

I think they need it to compete with Tesla and the others who are rolling out self driving.

BEVs struggle to get buyer interest, but if the vehicle can drive itself, it attracts buyers. I don't believe my friend would have gotten his MY if not for FSD.

I think UHF is equally important to the success of Rivian. Every single vehicle will be able to drive itself in the future. One day. Rivian can either build it now, or later, if it isn't too late. I think if they build it later it will be too late.

 

[captainjp]

Dear Rivian,

Please ignore that last letter asking you to not be forward-thinking and look for additional sources of revenue. You have not gotten this far by listening to bad advice.

 

[mkg3]

Why don't they just go poach an expert through a headhunter/executive search firm if serious about really going it now.

Otherwise, its probably a high profile job with little to no real resources.

 

[Dark-Fx]

Dear Rivian,

Please don’t waste your money at this stage. You’ve got a factory, plus a load of debt, to build and pay off. You’ve got service centres still underperforming. Focus your effort on rolling out R2 & 3 asap at high quality (recall early R1 QC wasnt exactly epic) and a price that‘ll ensure sufficient demand (thus profit) rather than blue sky rubbish that comes with a load of legal red tape and an ROI that’ll take decades to recoup.

Major caveat to the below is that I personally agree with you here.

From a business perspective, now is the time to do it. Regulations and red tape are only going to get more strict, harder to overcome. If these companies can get to a point where they actually have a reliable service, then that red tape and regulations won't come down as hard.

 

[Ralph]

Why don't they just go poach an expert through a headhunter/executive search firm if serious about really going it now.

Otherwise, its probably a high profile job with little to no real resources.

They may well; doesn't mean they don't post the job.

 

[CharonPDX]

As someone who has driven for Uber, and rented a vehicle out on Turo - stop trying to make "rent your personal vehicle out as a robotaxi" a thing. It's the worst of both Uber and Turo combined. (No, I don't do either any more.)

Sure, maybe multiple years down the road it might be a viable business model, but Gated Rat has been claiming it's "coming later this year" for eight years now. Just work on the basic software, and when the software is ready, then work on "robotaxi". This job is just for the basic autonomy, not "robotaxi."

 

[LivingInKaos]

I'm not reading robotaxi in here..... Just want leads for the Level 4 side of things. While yes, currently that is the only thing Level 4 is used in - but that's only because Tesla has yet to bite the bullet and assume liability in their FSD for private use. Hands off/eyes off becomes level 4 as soon as the manufacturer takes on the liability.

 

[renderpaz]

This thread title is false and misleading.

This is just a regular senior technical job posting. Rivian has already designed and manufactured their own inference processor for goodness sakes! There are dozens of jobs listings for autonomy right now, and likely hundreds already working at the company on this.

Nothing to do with robotaxi. Total nothing burger with extra nothing sauce.

Here is the listing from the OP:
Sr. Staff Electrical Systems Integration Engineer
https://careers.rivian.com/careers-home/jobs/28031?lang=en-us&previousLocale=en-US

 

[skyguyscott]

Nope, Rivian never follows whatever Tesla does, how ridiculous

 

[TexasBob]

pretty much every OEM out there is hitting the streets with eyes off autonomy in the next three years. Rivian has chosen to build a competing system. GM is on Team NVIDIA at least for hardware and uber/lucid/nuro are as well. VW is on the Mobileye platform. Mercedes is in with Qualcomm, Etc. One way or another you’ve got to be in this with product on the road. RJ is not wrong about that. But Rivian is darn small to be chasing a diy solution!

 

[Jeffh32]

Robotaxi? Rivian is going to make rental cars now.

 

[kurtlikevonnegut]

Probably just targeting the market for tour vehicles at Jurassic Park. Last I saw the Explorers that they had been using were in need of replacement.

Sponsored