Uber Technologies plans to invest up to $1.25 billion in Rivian Automotive to deploy a fleet of up to 50,000 robotaxis through 2031, the companies announced Thursday. The initial investment of $300 million is expected shortly after the deal’s signing, pending regulatory approval, and will equate to approximately 19.55 million shares of Rivian stock.
The partnership centers on Rivian’s upcoming R2 electric SUV, with Uber, or its fleet partners, initially purchasing 10,000 autonomous versions of the vehicle. An option exists to purchase up to 40,000 more robotaxis beginning in 2030, according to a company release. The R2, which starts at $45,000, is slated to begin consumer sales this spring.
Shares of Rivian rose roughly 10% in premarket trading Thursday before settling with a 3% increase at the close of the day, while Uber’s stock experienced a 1% decline. The deal represents a renewed focus on autonomous vehicle technology, a market investors anticipate will be worth trillions of dollars, despite past setbacks for many companies, including Uber, in achieving robotaxi deployment goals.
The investment will be distributed in four additional tranches through 2031, contingent upon Rivian meeting unspecified autonomous performance milestones, according to a public filing by the automaker. Uber will also pay licensing fees for the use of Rivian’s autonomous driving system software.
The companies intend to make the R2 robotaxis exclusively available through Uber’s ride-hailing and delivery platform in 25 cities across the U.S., Canada, and Europe. Initial deployments are planned for San Francisco and Miami in 2028.
“We’re big believers in Rivian’s approach—designing the vehicle, compute platform, and software stack together, while maintaining conclude-to-end control of scaled manufacturing and supply in the U.S.,” said Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi in a statement. “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.”
This deal follows a $5.8 billion software agreement Rivian secured with Volkswagen in late 2024. It also expands Uber’s involvement in autonomous vehicle technology, building on recent partnerships with EV maker Lucid, Amazon’s Zoox, Chrysler parent Stellantis, and tech giant Nvidia.
Rivian CEO RJ Scaringe has increasingly emphasized the company’s ambitions in the robotaxi space, discussing the potential during Rivian’s third-quarter earnings call in November and at its inaugural “Autonomy and AI Day” in December. Scaringe has stated that advancements in artificial intelligence and semiconductor technology are key to achieving successful robotaxi deployment, a market currently led in the U.S. By Alphabet’s Waymo.
Scaringe highlighted the importance of Rivian’s data collection and its in-house inference platform, RAP1, in accelerating the development of its autonomous driving capabilities. “The scale of Rivian’s growing data flywheel coupled with RAP1…make us incredibly excited for the rapid advancement of Rivian autonomy over the next couple of years,” Scaringe said in Thursday’s release.
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