Do you remember the old Arnold Schwarzenegger movie, Total Recall? One of the incidentals in the movie was the Johnny Cab – an ’80s movies take on the then-futuristic idea of so-called “autonomous” vehicles. Such vehicles are, of course, nothing of the sort. An autonomous vehicle is a vehicle that is independent of any external control.
Said another way, it is entirely under your control.
This “autonomous” vehicle thing – in the modern, Orwellian usage – is a vehicle like the Johnny Cabs in the movie. You do not drive. You get in and sit. The vehicle takes you for a ride. It is “driven” by the computer, connected to other computers – over which you have no control. (In the movie, Arnold wrestles control away from the “Johnny” – a torso with no legs – that was driving the cab; this will not be possible with the “autonomous” vehicles being designed for our future; even current cars with steering wheels and pedals are drive by wire, which provide the illusion of control.)
Anyhow, this brings up Rivian – the maker of high-end EVs that can’t seem to make any money selling EVs. News broke the other day that – once again – Rivian won’t achieve profitability. Which is putting it mildly. It just posted a $465 million loss for the last quarter of 2025 – almost double the losses achieved during the same quarter a year prior – and anticipates total losses for 2026 to be in the neighborhood of $1.8-$2.1 billion.
The company “no longer expects to be adjusted EBITDA positive in 2027 due to an expected increase in R&D spend associated with the acceleration of its autonomy roadmap,” a statement says.
Italics added.
Rivian sees its future profitability in selling “autonomy” rather than vehicles. “We believe autonomy will be a key fundamental long-term differentiator for our business” Rivian CFI Claire McDonough said. According to Ward’s Automotive, “The company’s autonomous tech initiative includes a multi-year partnership with rideshare Uber to ‘develop, deploy and operate autonomous vehicles on the Uber platform,’ according to the Thursday filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.”
The electric thing is a given, of course – as EVs are especially suited to the Johnny Cab role since everthing about them is already electronically controlled and those electronics are controlled by computers which are, in turn, run by software that is under the control (via real-time “updates” and “connectivity”) of whoever/whatever is running all of that.
Which obviously isn’t you.
So-called “autonomy” – like so many other pernicious things – is being sold to the public under false pretenses. The public is led to believe that they will possess what amounts to an on-call chauffeur that can be engaged by them at their pleasure (as for instance when they are too tired to drive, or maybe just not wanting to drive, etc.) and yet still at their service. Meaning, they can turn the chauffeur off anytime they like and resume full control over the vehicle. This sounds appealing. How nice it would be to be able to just push the button – so to speak – and take a nap while the car continues on its course. Road trips would be easier. No one would ever have to worry about getting arrested for “drunk” driving again (the air fingers quotes are used to call out the fact that the meaning of “drunk” has likewise gotten an Orwellian meaning in that all it means nowadays is that you have maybe had a drink or two).
The fact is, “autonomy” will render us all like Arnold in the Johnny Cab. It will drive exactly the speed limit – maybe slower, for “safety” – and perform every other aspect of driving (sic) in accordance with the programmed/transmitted parameters emanating from the Hive Mind Nexus. This latter being my own neologism to describe the truth about the actual meaning of so-called “smart” technologies that are connected to the “Internet of things.” The whole works being erected to micromanage our lives to a degree that will exceed that of the worst analog tyrannies of the 20th century. Not many proles had Trabants in the old Soviet Union but if you did manage to get one, the thing was autonomous in that no one else had control over it except the prole behind the wheel. That will seem like a great freedom in the electronic tyranny that is elaborating all around us.
Rivian sees gold in them thar hills, too.
So does Uber – the ride-sharing company that currently (mostly) uses actually autonomous vehicles owned by other people, who use them as taxis under the Uber brand label (Uber’s business model being to offload the costs of maintaining a fleet of taxis onto the poor marks who agree to wear out their personal vehicles for Uber and get paid chump change for their services as drivers). It is reported that Uber is going to “invest” $1.2 billion in Rivian, the money going toward the purchase of 10,000 “fully automated” R2 “robotaxi” vehicles made by Rivian, with the possibility of that ramping up to 40,000 by 2030 (that year, again).
These R2 (no D2) Johnny Cabs will be equipped with Rivian’s “Level 4 autonomous driving system, on Uber’s ride-hailing and delivery platform.”
Ultimately, the object is to use “autonomy” to deliver us from autonomy. To make transportation dependent on good behavior and even then, at the direction and under the control of the Hive Mind Nexus, with a payment debited for every ride.
. . .
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Ha ha, I also, for a long time now, have thought back to the “Johnny Cab” every time I hear another news piece about autonomous taxis.
“Hope you enjoyed the ride!!”……
I don’t doubt that their new business will be “autonomy” [Another word, like ‘anarchy’ that is being ruined and no longer suited for it’s original intention]….but I don’t think they mean in regards to cars; Rather, I believe, like Tesla, they will morph into making robots (Which, like EVs, once the expense and impracticality becomes more well known, will also be a largely abandoned idea). The idea of self-driving cars has largely run it’s course. Most of the automakers have abandoned it, after wasting BILLIONS of dollars on it. Tesla has not been able to achieve it- and even if they can briefly get a self-driving vehicle to function properly for a while, such will never be practical for individuals nor businesses, as they will just be too high-maintenance; expensive to repair, and short-lived. It’s a dead idea, being kept alive by a few companies that still have some government money to blow off.
It’s getting to the point where car makers will refuse the sell you a vehicle. The money will be in ride “shares”. Maybe a lease if you are rich enough, but no buying. No buying used ones either, they will be worn out and crushed.
Surprised it not happening already, since every EV sale, no matter the maker (and yes, it includes Tesla), is a financial loss.
Shhhhh! Don’t give the sociopaths running governments any ideas, particularly those who’ve gone ALL IN with demented climate change/ Net Zero agendas. If they enact “Climate lockdowns”, they may attempt to MANDATE that people who STILL have gas vehicles (regardless of year) give them up and get an EV.
If the list of Rivian’s stockholders reads like a Tel Aviv phone book, be assured, it IS a SCAM.
The Biden thing gave Rivian a $6 Billion dollar “loan” as it shuffled out the door a little over a year ago.
The intent was that Rivian use the money to finish its plant in North Georgia, east of Atlanta.
FWIW, the “Johnny Cab” driver was voiced by Robert Piccardo, who played the “Holodoc” in Star Trek: Voyager, and crossed over into the DS9 franchise briefly. I guess Michael Okuda liked Robert’s peculiar talent at being a smart-ass. Although in Star Trek the “doctor” is based on an in-universe, flesh and blood doctor, indeed, the young and “Incel” Dr. Julian Breshear was considered also by Starfleet Medical to base the Holodoc off of, they should have called out the Total Recall reference, with the “real” doc stating that one of his ancestors did a lot of cybernetics work in the 21st century, and was disappointed when his voice and heuristics were used for a self-driving cab!
Everyone here has probably heard about those Flock cameras that seemingly sprung up everywhere throughout the country, but it appears that this vehicle mass surveillance is worse than we think…
https://rumble.com/v77q4o6-mass-vehicle-surveillance-is-worse-than-you-think.html?e9s=src_v1_cmd%2Csrc_v1_ucp_a
@Eric – Show a little sympathy. Johnny Cab lost his cushy gig teaching at Starfleet Academy this week.
The fate of the economy of Northern Georgia is now irrevocably tied to that of Rivian.
It isn’t a question of whether the implosion happens but when and how quickly.
I took my first Waymo ride last week in LA, and I found it rather interesting and enjoyable. It behaved in traffic, it did not drive under the speed limit, nor did it perform all the other doom and gloom hyperbole. But, at about $30 a mile it’s not cheap. So autonomous Johnny Cab is really an indulgence at the moment.
We no longer live in a high trust society. Oh we probably trust most of our neighbors, we probably trust our co workers and maybe the coffee barista who can’t spell our name. But do we trust the corporations we’re forced to interact with? Do we trust the government overseers charged with regulating those massive TBTF companies?
Do we trust our institutions?
More often than not we can’t. They once had our trust, that’s what got them to be institutions to begin with. But they exploited our trust and assumed we weren’t going to leave. While I wouldn’t call Rivian an institution (they’re way too small for that), they are part of the larger institution of venture capital and banking that provides funding for these terrible ideas in order to promote an agenda. Then when they inevitably fail, they continue to foist more money (our retirement accounts and inflationary government handouts) on these businesses in desperation. We don’t trust the banks or VC firms, but unfortunately we have no choice. We’re just along for the ride and praying they don’t f*** us too badly when we need to withdraw.
If autonomous vehicles were being developed in an open environment, where anyone could install hardware in their vehicle if they so chose to do so, I’d be all for it. Who wouldn’t want to “skip the boring parts” of a road trip, or let the car take care of stop-and-go traffic jams? Instead we get closed source, locked down systems that will require a EULA to use (that includes language about binding arbitration if there’s a dispute), are completely opaque and the demand is all top-down, from those untrustworthy institutions. So it will be full of back doors and kill switches, and as is the point of the article, might prove to be opt-out only. Because bad ideas can only be implemented by force.
‘The whole works being erected to micromanage our lives’ — eric
Senator Ron Wyden (aged 76), a lifelong critic of intelligence excesses, revealed this week that all VPN (Virtual Private Network) traffic from overseas nodes is monitored for content, even if it originated from Americans.
Americans, under Section 702 of the FISA Act, have their email, text and phone traffic monitored for ‘header’ information. Send it through an overseas node, though, and then the spooks suck in the message content too.
This is what ‘liberty’ has been reduced to: a comprehensive, seamless spy state which also monitors your physical movements by cell phone tracking, automakers’ telematics, ALPRs license plate readers, and ubiquitous facial recognition cameras. Multiple dragnets.
No one says ‘it’s a free country’ anymore. That would be like counterfactually claiming that food, fuel and utility bills are ‘cheap as dirt.’
Israel, the actual power behind the throne in our R-party quisling regime, bragged this week that it has hacked all the cameras in Russia and can assassinate its leaders at will, just as it does Iranian leaders. But obviously, the US is a far juicier surveillance target than Russia, since Israel actually runs the place and is exempt from normal, sensible security measures.
Netanyahu to Trump:
We showed JFK. And we’ll show you.
One can also infer, though no one ever talks about this, that many of Israel’s high-tech surveillance products are the result of its extensive military and industrial espionage in the US. It’s stolen technology, just like Israel’s stolen nuclear capability, situated on stolen land.
FCC bans “consumer” routers (pdf)
* The FCC’s Covered List is a list of communications equipment and services that are deemed
to pose an unacceptable risk to the national security of the U.S. or the safety and security of
U.S. persons.
*Equipment on the Covered List (“covered” equipment) is prohibited from getting FCC
equipment authorization. Most electronic devices (including consumer-grade routers)
require FCC equipment authorization prior to importation, marketing, or sale in the U.S.
Covered equipment is banned from receiving new equipment authorizations, preventing new
devices from entering the U.S. market.
The cheap Chinese routers are often running derivatives of OpenWRT. It’s fairly easy to check for backdoors and other compromises, and if you expect something might be afoul, just load in native OpenWRT. Why does the FCC expect that the Chinese routers are compromised? Well, probably because the American routers are.
FCC to China: “How dare you spy on Americans, that’s our job!”
The VPN thing is nuanced. FISA 702 can’t (in theory) subvert domestic traffic requiring a warrant so only (in theory) allows warrantless surveillance when it originates from a foreign country. What they were saying is using a VPN may obscure your location to a foreign country, which makes your traffic subject to surveillance because of where it originates. If you use a domestic VPN or TOR node this (in theory) would not place you at any additional risk.
The question you also have to answer for yourself is whether the risk of being potentially surveilled outweighs the potential benefit of encryption and obfuscation. Do you think they’re bothering to follow the law on domestic traffic? Then you have to wonder whether the VPN/TOR solution you’re using is truly private and secure? If you trust your VPN’s configuration, logging and legal standards then are you worried about them knowing routing data? If they do does it matter since the risk of even 3-letters reading AES-256 content regardless of the warrant situation is nearly impossible even in the face of quantum techniques.
Don’t kid yourself that the NSA, FBI, and other “alphabet” soup Federal intelligence and law enforcement agencies haven’t either cracked most VPN encoding, or strong-armed the purveyors into giving them a “key”, lest they be sued or prosecuted into oblivion.
And you’re not paranoid…they ARE out to “Get” you…when they get around to it!
So now the poor schlubs that are getting a pittance for being an Uber Taxi Driver (insert image of Robert DiNero here) will not even have that as employment of last resort. I guess it’s a good thing the military just raised the maximum age for new recruits to 42.
I’m guessing Mark that the concept of gypsy cabs will still be around but this time for people who are looking for potentially more privacy or distrust robot cabs. I’m also guessing that some cab companies will market their having “All Human Drivers” but I suspect it will wind up as a niche markets for people that need help either with luggage or they’re elderly and have no interest in a humanoid robot.
A lot of this is really meant for military use. DARPA started all this with their various “Grand Challenge” events where colleges and think tanks would build autonomous vehicles to see if they could navigate an off-road course. Some of the early events were pretty funny, with vehicles moving a few feet off the starting line and just freezing, or going way off course, etc.
The military has to deal with a world where the draft no longer can guarantee a fighting force for their various skirmishes. The Pentagon has leaned heavily into robotics and automation, especially after seeing the force multiplier of small combat drones in Ukraine. If Rivian can’t make money selling EV trucks, maybe they can sell autonomous driving software to the Army. After all, Elon’s making bank on the militarized version of Starlink (replacing the old Iridium constellation as the go-to field comms devices). And there’s lots of bipartisan support for military spending, pretty much guaranteed profit once the contract is signed.
One problem I see with robotic weapons systems is that if hacked it can be used against your own side whether this is more or less likely than your own government using these same systems against their own people only time will tell.
Just spotted on ZeroHedge the latest gadget that help us with a homegrown version of Skynet….
https://www.zerohedge.com/military/kid-just-3d-printed-manpad-97
Great. Next month they’ll be banning 3D printers too.
“If I could turn back time” indeed. Just put the genie back in the bottle and bury it in that warehouse next to the Arc of the Convenient.
Haven’t you been paying attention? Blue communist states have been going after 3d printers for over a year. Because many tens of thousands of free man guns have been designed and printed with minimal paper trail and no permission from a wannabe ruler. Im very proud to have some designs circulating.
I keep forgetting about “ghost guns.” Good point.
Soon there will be bipartisan support for 3D printer bans, or at least some secret sauce firmware that won’t let you print a modified lower receiver, just like most printers won’t allow you to print a $100 bill.
Seems like just last month I joked, ‘What this country needs is a good $4,995 MANPADS.’ Now for $96 a kid can remotely blow up his school. No more teachers, no more rules.
If the military-industrial complex has any brains at all, they’ll make him an offer too good to refuse, like a free ride to one of the academies and a guarantee of employment at Boeing.
Sorry Jim but MANPADS (except in MN or CA rest rooms) are for air defense. Now that $5,000 cruise missile that the NZ branch of GovCo shut down around 20 years ago might be more inline with your comment.
Either way we are living in exciting times…….
Well, there’s quite another reason for a self-driving, or at least readily remote-controlled, fighting vehicle…the need to have men aboard restricts the design a LOT. An “autonomous” tank, for example, can be much lighter, lower, smaller, all factors to be considered when loading them aboard a C-17 or C-5.
Of course, at some point, the “droid” tanks et al won’t just say, “Roger, Roger”, they’ll get smart enough to wonder WHY they’re taking orders from the “Meat Bags”!
I think it could be the opposite. My father is 84 and is all about using Siri and self check out while my 22 year old daughter is more like me keeping social media at arm’s length, uses a human cashier if possible and won’t use the biometric unlock on her phone. It made me proud when she wanted me to teach her how to drive a manual and asked if she could start using my old Nikon film cameras. I think it’s wrong to over stereotype generationally, there’s plenty of idiots of all ages willing to give up their privacy but at the same time the perception of a young person can often surprise you.
I kind of wonder if this is more of a pump and dump scheme. Rivian is portrayed as a high end vehicle while cabs were in the past 4 door sedans from lower end manufactures. I could see a deal with BYD making more sense as their EVs are more affordable and their cars are available in more markets.
Either way, until the tech is debugged it’s going to be an interesting ride for more than a few customers. I think I’ll stick with the current generation of cabbies that I could swear were chanting “Death To America” recently in Hamtramck……..