Uber will invest up to US$1.25 billion into electric vehicle company Rivian in an agreement to deploy 10,000 autonomous taxis.
These robotaxis will be Rivian’s R2 electric SUVs. Deployments are set to begin in 2028 in San Francisco and Miami, and would expand to 25 cities in the United States, Canada, and Europe by 2031.
“We’re big believers in Rivian’s approach—designing the vehicle, compute platform, and software stack together, while maintaining end-to-end control of scaled manufacturing and supply in the U.S.,” said Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi.
“That vertical integration, combined with data from their growing consumer vehicle base and experience managing the complexities of commercial fleets, gives us conviction to set these ambitious but achievable targets.”
Uber will invest $300 million into Rivian following regulatory approvals, with the remainder of its investment due by 2031.
Under the partnership, Uber would have the option to buy up to another 40,000 Rivian R2 vehicles from 2030. The R2 will launch during 2026’s U.S. spring season, Rivian said this month.
The robotaxis' deployment will follow the launch of Rivian’s third-generation autonomy platform in late 2026. The platform will include 11 cameras, five radars, and one LiDAR system.
Uber had previously operated its own robotaxi unit, Advanced Technologies Group. It was acquired by self-driving technology company Aurora for $4 billion in December 2020 after its value nearly halved during the Covid-19 pandemic.
The company has been pivoting back to robotaxis in recent months, however, saying earlier in March that it would launch a new autonomous vehicle data team known as AV Labs. It has also partnered with Baidu's robotaxi service, Apollo Go.
Shares in Rivian (NASDAQ: RIVN) closed 3.8% higher at $16.12, and climbed a further 0.3% after-hours. Its market capitalisation is $20.00 billion.
Uber shares fell 1.7% to $75.34, but rose 0.5% after-hours. Its market capitalisation is $155.06 billion.
