Uber to invest up to $1.25bn in Rivian robotaxis

Uber is to invest up to $1.25 billion in US-based electric car maker Rivian in a deal that could see the ride-hailing firm buy up to 50,000 autonomous vehicles from the automaker.

Uber is making an initial $300m upfront investment, including an initial order for 10,000 robotaxi versions of Rivian’s R2 SUV (pictured). Uber and its fleet partners have the option to purchase a further 40,000 vehicles from 2030. This would see the total investment rise to $1.25bn in equity by 2031 if Rivian hits milestones linked to its self-driving technology, Uber said in a statement.

Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi: “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 US. 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.”

The vehicles would start unsupervised service in San Francisco and Miami in 2028. The rollout is expected to expand to 25 cities in the US, Canada and Europe by the end of 2031.

Rivian founder and CEO RJ Scaringe said: “We couldn’t be more excited about this partnership with Uber – it will help accelerate our path to level 4 autonomy to create one of the safest and most convenient autonomous platforms in the world.”

The Rivian deal follows other recent robotaxi-related announcements from Uber. The company said it would partner with Amazon’s Zoox on robotaxi services starting in Las Vegas this summer, with an expansion to Los Angeles next year.

Last year, Uber took a $300mn stake in another US automaker, Lucid, and agreed to buy 20,000 Gravity electric SUVs.