Digital retailer Amazon is leading a $700 million investment in electric carmaker Rivian as founder Jeff Bezos expands into an automobile market being transformed by self-driving technology.
Founded by R.J. Scaringe in 2009, Rivian introduced its R1T pickup and R1S sport-utility vehicle at the Los Angeles Auto Show in November. The automobiles, which can travel up to 400 miles on a full charge, include radar and ultrasonic equipment that will help enable so-called Level 3 autonomy on highways, meaning drivers don’t have to keep their eyes on the wheel or their eyes on the road.
“This investment is an important milestone for Rivian and the shift to sustainable mobility,” Scaringe said in a statement on Friday. “Beyond simply eliminating compromises that exist around performance, capability and efficiency, we are working to drive innovation across the entire customer experience.”
With the investment, Amazon joins an increasingly competitive field that includes not only tech companies like Waymo, but traditional automakers that are pouring money into self-driving vehicles even before an update in federal regulations that would enable mass production and widespread use on American roads.
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“We’re inspired by Rivian’s vision for the future of electric transportation,” said Jeff Wilke, head of Amazon’s worldwide consumer division. The carmaker, which has a 2.6 million square-foot plant in Normal, Ill., and development centers in Michigan and California, said it will remain independent.
Its rivals include Waymo, which is owned by Google parent Alphabet and recently launched its own autonomous ride-share fleet in the Phoenix suburbs, and General Motors, which plans to begin offering commercial rides for its self-driving cars this year. Many vehicles using autonomous technology are actually hybrids that require human control in some situations but are capable of self-operation in others.
Those that are fully autonomous, lacking a steering wheel and other parts mandated by federal law, must obtain waivers from the Transportation Department that come with a strict cap on the number of vehicles allowed. While the GOP-controlled House passed a bill last year that would have set up an initial framework giving carmakers the confidence to ramp up investment, a companion measure failed to pass the Senate before it adjourned.
Now, a Democratic majority in the House may have a different vision for rules, further confusing an industry shaken last year by high-profile fatalities that undermined confidence the vehicles would curb highway injuries and fatalities.
In the first case, 49-year-old Elaine Herzberg was struck by a self-driving Uber vehicle as she attempted to walk a bicycle across a Tempe, Ariz., street about 10 p.m. on March 18, according to local police. About five days later, 38-year-old Apple engineer Walter Huang died when his Tesla Model X caught fire after striking a barrier and being hit by two other cars in Mountain View, Calif.
The automaker subsequently said that the car’s Autopilot technology had been activated just moments before the collision, with its adaptive cruise control follow-distance set to minimum, and that the system gave several audible and visual warnings before impact.
Still, self-driving car supporters in both the Obama and Trump administrations have said the technology has the potential to dramatically reduce deaths and injuries caused by distracted drivers. In 2015 alone, about 3,450 people were killed on U.S. roads and another 391,000 injured in accidents where one or more drivers weren’t paying sufficient attention, according to the traffic safety administration.
