Also is making the right call to shelve its Kenya e-moto plans and put autonomous vehicles first. Chris Yu, the company's co-founder and president, told TechCrunch he wanted to prioritize autonomy, and that clarity of focus matters more than a tidy launch narrative. A spinout from Rivian choosing to narrow its scope is a sign of discipline, not retreat.
The broader autonomy story is moving quickly, and Also is steering toward where the energy is. Autonomous vehicles enter a new era driven by smarter AI captures how AI is reshaping what vehicles can do, while Waymo and Toyota partner to test autonomous taxis in Japan shows established players pushing into new markets with real testing programs. Also is smaller than those names, and that is exactly why a single-minded bet beats a scattered portfolio. Running an e-moto program in Kenya and building autonomy at the same time would split attention and capital across two very different problems.
For our readers, the practical takeaway is this: watch what Also does with its autonomy work in the next few quarters, not what it abandoned. A company that says out loud it is deprioritizing a project is telling you where its resources are going. That is more useful than a press release full of promises. The Kenya plans may resurface later, but for now the signal is that autonomy is the main event.
There is a contrast worth holding onto. Rivian itself is riding strong demand for the R2, with Rivian's new R2 SUV already its top seller, driving a second upgraded forecast this year, which shows the parent company finding traction in the EV market it knows. Also, spun out from that business, is placing a different bet entirely. Whether a young company can compete in autonomy against better-funded rivals is the open question, and the answer will show up in testing milestones and partnerships, not in strategy statements.