In a car, a rider is usually a passenger, not the driver.

Rider — Vocabulary

n. 1.a. a traveler who actively rides an animal (as a horse or camel)
n. 1.b. a traveler who actively rides a vehicle (as a bicycle or motorcycle)
n. 1.c. a traveler riding in a vehicle (a boat or bus or car or plane or train etc) who is not operating it

Answer from NVZ on Stack Exchange
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Brainly
brainly.com › english › high school › a __________ is a person who is traveling in a vehicle but is not driving it, flying it, or working on it. a) driver b) pilot c) passenger d) sailor
[FREE] A __________ is a person who is traveling in a vehicle but is not driving it, flying it, or working on - brainly.com
May 10, 2025 - A passenger is defined as a person who is traveling in a vehicle but is not actively involved in operating it, whether by driving, flying, or working on it. This means they are simply along for the ride without any responsibilities regarding ...
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Merriam-Webster
merriam-webster.com › thesaurus › chauffeur
CHAUFFEUR Synonyms: 20 Similar and Opposite Words | Merriam-Webster Thesaurus
2 weeks ago - Synonyms for CHAUFFEUR: driver, operator, motorist, wheelman, automobilist, codriver, carpooler, taxi; Antonyms of CHAUFFEUR: nondriver
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Quora
quora.com › What-do-you-call-a-person-who-doesnt-have-a-drivers-license-and-doesnt-know-how-to-drive
What do you call a person who doesn't have a driver's license and doesn't know how to drive? - Quora
Answer (1 of 3): You don’t call them for a taxi service, that’s for sure. None of my grandparents ever had a driver’s licence or knew how to drive. It appeared to me as normal. I lived in a village, there were still people who rode horses or a pony and trap to get to places.
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Medium
linguannika.medium.com › the-people-who-feel-unheard-in-a-car-centric-world-b7c9dc6116bf
Who Feels Unheard in a Car-Centric World? | by Annika Wappelhorst | Medium
September 30, 2024 - Let’s shortly address those who chose to be carless (not careless, just without a car of their own!). Car ownership and driving are not synonymous — you can have a driver’s license but no car. Still, I am both voluntarily carless (Sattlegger & Rau, 2016) and a ‘choice’ nondriver (Zivarts, 2024).
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Top answer
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I understand that you are making an observation about vehicles that are being driven and occupied by one person, and hoping to encourage more people to share rides, and thereby reduce overall traffic.

Interestingly,most of the existing terminology used in these situations actually relates to the driver, rather than the vehicle. This makes sense if you consider that the cause of the problem is not the vehicle, but in fact the problem is the driver and their choice to travel alone. Campaigns to improve the sharing of vehicles mostly direct attention to the driver behaviour. Common expressions in this case would include:

'solo-', 'sole-', and 'single-drivers',
'solo-', 'sole-', and 'single-commuters', and
'solo-', 'sole-', and 'single-rollers'.

There are expressions that relate to the vehicles, however, such as:

'Sole Occupant Vehicles (SOV)',
'Sole Occupancy Vehicles (SOV)',
'Single Occupant Vehicle (SOV)', and
'Single Occupancy Vehicle (SOV)'.

Using a term such as 'Single Occupant Vehicle', and its acronym 'SOV' creates as less emotive impression, and is particularly favoured in discussions about road design, including reducing access to 'Single Occupant Vehicles', or the creation of special access for 'High Occupancy Vehicles (HOV)'. See this report for example, from the University of Virginia: http://www.mautc.psu.edu/docs/UVA-2008-04.pdf.

You might note in the previous paragraph a mention of 'High Occupancy Vehicles (HOV)' which is the opposite of a 'Single Occupancy Vehicle'. There are also terms which describe the opposite of a 'Sole Commuter', such as:

'Ride Sharer',
'Car Pooler',
'Car Sharer', and
'Lift Sharer'.

Which also suggests such terms as: 'Ride Sharing', 'Car Pooling', 'Car Sharing' and 'Lift Sharing'. If you were considering a campaign to try to reduce traffic by reducing the number of 'Single Occupant Vehicles' or 'Solo Commuters' you could consider a campaign that was focussed on encouraging the opposite, such as:

'xyz town loves Ride Sharers',
'xyz town loves Car Pooling', or
'Ride Sharers are welcome in xyz town.'.

Most campaigns to encourage ride-sharing also include incentives in terms of reduced road tolls, parking fees, or preferential access onto high speed or high flow traffic lanes. Vehicles using these facilities are monitored - usually by camera - to ensure that Single Occupant Vehicles are excluded. This has led to instances where drivers have placed 'dummies' in their vehicles in order to create the impression that they are carrying real passengers, see: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2593704/Worlds-laziest-HOV-lane-dummy-just-hat-t-shirt-seat.html

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It is Deadhead(noun/verb). It stands for a trip without freight or paying passengers.

"The van is deadheading to the stand after dropping off the children"

"The deadhead trips are increasing traffic congestion".

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Quora
quora.com › Is-there-a-term-for-adults-who-cant-drive
Is there a term for adults who can't drive? - Quora
Answer (1 of 11): Why should there be a term for it? They are ostracized enough without you wanting a special term for it. What’s wrong with adults who can’t drive? I have known adults who cant drive and I have taught some of them to drive but there is nothing intrinsically wrong with people ...
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Dictionary.com
dictionary.com › browse › driverless
DRIVERLESS Definition & Meaning | Dictionary.com
Driverless vehicles use technology like sensors and computers to "see" the road and make decisions without a person behind the wheel. Keep Reading on Vocabulary.com · Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of ...
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Vocabulary.com
vocabulary.com › dictionary › chauffeur
Chauffeur - Definition, Meaning & Synonyms | Vocabulary.com
Do you pay someone to drive you around? Then you have a private chauffeur. Chauffeur literally means "operator of a steam engine" in French, but they used it as a nickname for the first motorists who drove steam engine cars. Today chauffeurs are just the guys you pay to drive you around, like the chauffeur of a limo.
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Collins Dictionary
collinsdictionary.com › dictionary › english › driver
DRIVER definition and meaning | Collins English Dictionary
8 meanings: 1. a person who drives a vehicle 2. → See in the driver's seat 3. a person who drives animals 4. a mechanical.... Click for more definitions.
Published   1 week ago
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Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org › wiki › Self-driving_car
Self-driving car - Wikipedia
3 weeks ago - These services all operate at a ... for personal cars. The consultancy McKinsey estimated that bringing costs down to less than $1.2/km ($2 per mile) would take until 2035. In April 2023 in Japan, a Level 4 protocol became part of the amended Road Traffic Act. ZEN drive Pilot Level 4 made by AIST operates there. In July 2020, Toyota started public demonstration rides on Lexus LS ...
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Reddit
reddit.com › r/motorcycles › what is a term for someone that acts like they ride but doesn’t own a bike just a sports car? is there even such a thing?
r/motorcycles on Reddit: What is a term for someone that acts like they ride but doesn’t own a bike just a sports car? Is there even such a thing?
April 2, 2024 - Like imagine a person with a super charged mustang that treats the highway like a roller coaster at speeds of 90-115mph and thinks they’re considered a rider ... An r/motorcycles commenter.
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WordHippo
wordhippo.com › what-is › another-word-for › car_driver.html
What is another word for "car driver"?
Synonyms for car driver include motorist, automobilist, wheelman, chauffeur, autoist, driver, car owner, car user, cabbie and cabdriver. Find more similar words at wordhippo.com!