Rivian's AI Turn VS. Lucid's Uber Alliance: Robotaxi Race For Second-Place

Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) remains the undisputed “Robotaxi King” with its Cybercab, but two contenders battle for the rest of the autonomous market. In the race for second place, Rivian Automotive, Inc. (NASDAQ:RIVN) and Lucid Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:LCID) are selling two different versions of the robotaxi dream. RIVN stock is racing. See the chart and price action here. Rivian's Robotaxi Stack Rivian's “Autonomy and AI Day” on Thursday revealed the EV maker's high-stakes gamble on vertical integration. Read Next: Looking For A Squeeze? Top 10 Most Shorted Stocks Right Now Rivian is trying to own the entire stack by ditching NVIDIA for its own custom RAP1 silicon chip and insisting on a sensor-rich suite including LIDAR. The strategy also includes selling autonomous driving tech to consumers for a disruptively low $50 per month. It is a capital-intensive risk that assumes Rivian can build a better brain than Tesla's camera-only system, eventually turning every owner's R2 into a potential micro-robotaxi fleet. Lucid's Robotaxi Partnership On the other hand, Lucid has chosen a strategic alliance approach to robotaxis. The luxury EV maker's partnership with Uber Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:UBER) and Nuro positions the Lucid Gravity as the hardware for an existing network. Lucid will provide the vehicle, Nuro provides the software and Uber provides the riders. While Rivian tries to become a tech giant, Lucid has decided to partner with them to ensure its vehicles hit the road without the burden of software validation. It is an asset-light approach that could prove to be easier to pull off. The Takeaway Ultimately, Rivian aims to control its robotaxi experience and Lucid plans to mitigate the risks involved. As Tesla sets the pace of the robotaxi race, Rivian is playing to win the technology game, while Lucid is playing to survive the financial one. Read Next: Nvidia Stock Dips After Oracle Snub: Larry Ellison Calls It ‘Chip Neutrality’ Photo: Gorodenkoff from Shutterstock