diff --git a/.gitlab-ci/cuttlefish-runner.sh b/.gitlab-ci/cuttlefish-runner.sh
index 3501f3ee409..41e40fcd0ff 100755
--- a/.gitlab-ci/cuttlefish-runner.sh
+++ b/.gitlab-ci/cuttlefish-runner.sh
@@ -13,10 +13,8 @@ export LD_LIBRARY_PATH=/cuttlefish/lib64:${CI_PROJECT_DIR}/install/lib:$LD_LIBRA
 export EGL_PLATFORM=surfaceless
 
 # Pick up a vulkan driver
-#
-# TODO: the vulkan driver should probably be controlled by a variable in the
-# .test-android job or in derived jobs
-export VK_DRIVER_FILES=${CI_PROJECT_DIR}/install/share/vulkan/icd.d/
+ARCH=$(uname -m)
+export VK_DRIVER_FILES=${CI_PROJECT_DIR}/install/share/vulkan/icd.d/${VK_DRIVER:-}_icd.$ARCH.json
 
 syslogd
 
diff --git a/.gitlab-ci/test/gitlab-ci.yml b/.gitlab-ci/test/gitlab-ci.yml
index 902a795a588..8f7268d8aee 100644
--- a/.gitlab-ci/test/gitlab-ci.yml
+++ b/.gitlab-ci/test/gitlab-ci.yml
@@ -117,6 +117,10 @@ yaml-toml-shell-py-test:
     # This is for the guest artifacts from debian-android which will be
     # downloaded explicitly by cuttlefish-runner.sh
     S3_ANDROID_ARTIFACT_NAME: mesa-x86_64-android-debug
+    # Set the default Vulkan driver to lavapipe for some preliminary checks
+    # that Cuttlefish always performs before starting the VM. This can be
+    # overwritten depending on the physical machine running the job.
+    VK_DRIVER: "lvp"
   needs:
     - job: debian-testing
       artifacts: true  # On the host we want the Linux build