Rivian’s Also spun out of the EV giant about two years ago with a mission: make cars that drive themselves for normal people. Now, the startup has quietly killed its most experimental project. According to a report from TechCrunch, Also was developing an electric motorcycle, or e-moto, specifically for the Kenyan market. It built the prototype.
It tested the components. Then, co-founder and president Chris Yu told reporters that the company decided to drop the entire initiative. They’re pivoting hard. All resources are now being poured into autonomous passenger vehicles.
That’s a massive shift in strategy. And it signals a growing impatience with the slow crawl of new vehicle categories in emerging markets.
The E-Moto Bet Was Wild but Smart
Kenya’s two-wheeler market is a beast. Roughly 10 million motorcycles roam the streets of Nairobi and Mombasa every day. These aren’t just transport; they’re lifelines for gig workers, farmers, and students. The fuel costs are killing these riders.
An electric bike, even a basic one, could slash daily expenses by half. But the infrastructure is a mess. Charging stations are rare. Repair shops don’t know how to fix high-voltage batteries.
Building a product for this market requires more than just a good motor. It demands a service network that simply doesn’t exist there yet. Yu admitted this reality in his comments. The market wasn’t ready for a premium e-moto yet.
So they walked away. It sounds like a retreat, but it’s actually a pragmatic move. Most startups fail because they try to do too much at once. Also tried to be an autonomy pioneer and a developing-market disruptor simultaneously. That’s a recipe for financial collapse.
By cutting the Kenya project, they’re shrinking their focus. They’re betting that self-driving cars for wealthier markets will pay for the R&D. The e-moto idea isn’t dead, just parked. It might come back in 2 or 3 years when battery prices drop further.
For now, the cash is needed elsewhere. The jury is out on whether this was the right call. Time will tell if the e-moto niche gets filled by Chinese rivals instead.
Autonomy Is the New Holy Grail
< p>Chris Yu has been vocal about one thing: full autonomy. He believes that by 2027 or 2028, human intermediation in car ownership will be obsolete. This isn’t just a buzzword for him. It’s the business model. If you can sell a car that drives itself, you own the logistics. You own the data. You own the user experience. The hardware becomes just another commodity. Also’s sensors and compute stack are designed for this endgame. They aren’t building a safer Tesla. They’re building a robotaxi fleet that can be sold to regular families. That distinction matters profoundly to investors. It changes the valuation metric entirely. From a car company to a software and mobility platform.
The competition in this space is fierce. Waymo is already operating in Phoenix and San Francisco. Cruise, a GM spinout, is struggling with its own regulatory headaches. But Also brings a different edge.
They have Rivian’s manufacturing muscle behind them. Rivian makes trucks, not just cars. That means the autonomous platform can scale to heavy duty and commercial fleets. This is a huge advantage.
Most autonomy startups are stuck with sedans. Also can put its brain into a pickup truck. That opens up construction, mining, and last-mile delivery. It’s a broader canvas to paint on.
And it gives them more revenue streams to sustain the long R&D burn. The margin is thin, but the potential is massive. If they get it right, they win the decade.
Why the Kenya Pivot Flopped
Emerging markets are often where big tech goes to test cheap hardware. India, Southeast Asia, Africa. It feels moral, and it feels smart. But the unit economics are brutal.
Selling a $10,000 e-moto in Kenya is hard when the average monthly income is below $500. Subsidies help, but they’re volatile. Policy changes overnight. You can’t build a multi-billion dollar business on government grants that might vanish next fiscal year.
Also realized this. The lifecycle of an e-moto in a tough terrain is short. Batteries die faster in heat. Tires wear out on unpaved roads.
The maintenance cost eats the savings. It’s a heavy lift for a startup that needs cash flow. So they cut the cord. It was a blunt instrument, but it was necessary.
No one in the room at the board meeting probably liked it, but everyone understood the math. There’s a deeper lesson here for global tech firms. You can’t just drop a product in a new geography and hope it sticks. Localization is not just about language packs. It’s about payment systems, insurance, repair, and consumer trust.
In Kenya, trust is earned through word-of-mouth, not app store ratings. Also didn’t have the ground troops for that. They had engineers in California and a few partners in Nairobi. That’s not enough to sustain a hardware launch.
The failure here isn’t the product. It’s the go-to-market strategy. They tried to solve a local problem with a global toolkit. That mismatch is fatal.
I’ve seen this play out in smartphones and solar panels. It’s a recurring trap. Don’t underestimate the friction on the ground. It’s always higher than the spreadsheet suggests.
What This Means for India
India is watching this closely. The Indian EV motorbike market is buzzing. Ola Electric, Ather Energy, and Hero MotoCorp are all pushing hard. Prices have dropped to around $2,000 for a decent city bike.
But autonomy in two-wheelers? That’s a different ball game. If Also had stayed in Kenya, India would have been the next logical stop. The regulations are similar.
The demand is higher. The infrastructure is slightly better. But the same issues apply. Can an autonomous e-moto handle Indian traffic?
Monsoons? Speed bumps? It’s a harder sell than it sounds. The safety certification alone takes years.
The cyber-security laws in India are tightening fast. A connected bike is a target. Also likely realized that the regulatory risk in emerging markets is too high right now. They’d rather play it safe in the US and Europe.
For Indian investors, this is a warning. Don’t just follow the global tech hype. Look at the unit economics in your own backyard. The margins on EV bikes in India are already thin.
Adding autonomy costs $5,000 per unit in sensors alone. Who pays that? The government might. But for how long?
The private sector won’t. This means the autonomous e-moto for India is at least 5 years away. Until then, it’s a niche for tech enthusiasts in Bangalore and Hyderabad. The mass market will stick to non-autonomous EVs for the next decade.
That’s a sobering reality. It means local startups have a window to dominate the standard EV market before the autonomy wave hits. Miss that window, and you’re irrelevant. The clock is ticking.
The Next Move: Robotaxis by 2027
So what is Also doing now? They’re building the fleet. Yu has said that the first autonomous passenger vehicles will hit the road in limited markets by 2027. These will be Rivian EVs equipped with Also’s “Brake” system.
No steering wheel. No pedals. Just an app. You summon a car.
It picks you up. It drives you somewhere. You pay. It’s the Uber fantasy, but without the driver.
The capital intensity is insane. You need thousands of vehicles to serve a dense area. You need insurance. You need liability frameworks that don’t exist yet.
But the prize is enormous. A fleet of 100,000 cars generates billions in revenue. It’s a cash cow. And it’s defensible.
Once you have the data, it’s hard to dislodge. That’s the moat they’re digging. It’s a long game. Most investors want returns in 3 years.
This needs 10. But the VC money is still flowing. Because everyone knows the future is automated. They just don’t know who will own it.
There are hurdles, of course. Regulatory approval is the biggest. The NHTSA is scrutinizing self-driving tech more than ever. A single fatal accident could stall the whole program.
Also has to be flawless. And in a world with imperfect maps and unpredictable humans, fluff is common. But Yu is betting on redundancy. Multiple sensors.
Multiple batteries. Multiple backups. That’s the engineering answer. It’s expensive.
It’s complex. But it’s the only way to ensure safety. The next 24 months will be critical. If they launch in a single city and it works, the confidence comes.
If they crash, the funding dries up. It’s make or break time. The e-moto is gone. The robotaxi is here.
The stakes are higher. The pressure is on. And the world is watching to see if this time, it actually sticks. No more pivots.
Just execution. Yes, they built a prototype and tested it in Kenya. The hardware existed. The software was ready for beta testing. But the company decided the market wasn’t ready for the price point and infrastructure requirements.
Frequently Asked Questions
Did Also actually build the electric motorcycle?
So they shelved the project indefinitely. The assets are likely being sold or repurposed for other R&D needs.
Why did Also choose Kenya for the e-moto pilot?
Kenya has a high density of two-wheeler users and a growing interest in EVs. The government offered some incentives for green transport. Also partnered with local riders to test the durability of the bike. It was a controlled environment for a high-stakes test. But the local support systems were lacking, which killed the long-term viability.
Is Also still making cars under the Rivian brand?
No. Also is a separate entity now. They manufacture their own vehicles, though they likely use Rivian’s supply chain for some components. The “Also” brand is dedicated to autonomous mobility.
The cars they produce will likely be sold under the Also name, not Rivian. This separation allows them to focus on software and autonomy without the baggage of traditional car sales.
How does this affect Indian EV startups?
It’s a lesson in caution. It shows that autonomy is still too expensive for developing markets. Indian startups should focus on affordable, non-autonomous EVs for now. The autonomy game is for the US and Europe first.
India will see autonomous two-wheelers only when battery costs drop further and regulations stabilize. Don’t burn cash on tech that isn’t needed yet.
When will Also’s autonomous cars be available to the public?
Chris Yu has targeted 2027 for limited market launches. This will likely be in specific US cities. Widespread availability will take longer. The next 2 years are for testing, regulatory approvals, and scaling the fleet.
It’s not a consumer product you can buy at a dealership tomorrow. It’s a mobility service that will expand gradually over the next decade. Source: TechCrunch
Source: TechCrunch
