Uber invests $1.25 billion in Rivian as part of new robotaxi deal

Uber and Rivian are teaming up to deploy 50,000 fully automated taxis over the next few decades, the companies announced Thursday. As part of the deal, Uber will invest $1.25 billion in Rivian through 2031, contingent on Rivian achieving certain autonomy milestones, starting with an initial $300 million upon signing. (The deal is still subject to regulatory approval.)

The news indicates a huge vote of confidence in Rivian’s emerging autonomy effortswhich involves designing its own custom AI chips to power Level 4 self-driving vehicles. Meanwhile, Uber has been working on something robotaxi partnership spreewhich includes a diverse group of companies from around the world while promising to reach hundreds of millions of customers.

Rivian and Uber said the first phase of their partnership will involve deploying 10,000 autonomous R2 vehicles as robo-taxis in several cities, starting with San Francisco and Miami in 2028. The companies said they expect to expand to an additional 25 cities by 2031. Rivian’s fleet of self-driving robo-taxis will be available exclusively on the Uber app.

In many ways, it’s a similar deal to Which Uber created with Lucid last summerincluding an initial investment of $300 million and the promise of tens of thousands of robotaxis. Did Rivian CEO RJ Scaringe see this deal and wonder, why shouldn’t we?

To be sure, Rivian’s autonomous capabilities are still largely theoretical. The company has yet to deliver most of what it says it’s working on, let alone show it publicly. Last year, Rivian rolled out its so-called global hands-free driving feature, covering 3.1 million miles of road in the U.S. and Canada, to second-generation R1 vehicles via a software update in December 2025. Later this year, it expects to launch its point-to-point hands-free driving system, which includes navigating turns, intersections and on/off ramps. Rivian also plans to add lidar sensors, a critical component of Level 4 autonomy, to its R2 vehicles later in 2026.

If Rivian meets all of the milestones set out in the agreement with Uber, the companies say they will deploy “thousands of unattended Rivian R2 robotaxis across 25 cities in the U.S., Canada, and Europe by the end of 2031.” The European inclusion is sure to interest Rivian watchers, given that the company has yet to establish itself abroad. The companies also say they will have the option to negotiate the purchase of up to 40,000 additional self-driving vehicles starting in 2030 — bringing the total to 50,000.

The money from Uber comes at a particularly crucial moment for Rivian, as it enters initial production of the R2. As of the beginning of this year, Rivian said it had about $6 billion in cash, including about $1 billion from its partnership with Volkswagen. But the company will likely spend more than $2.5 billion this year alone to increase R2 production. Uber’s $300 million investment will help soften the blow a little, but not much.

Meanwhile, Uber faces its own set of challenges. The company has announced several deals with a wide range of players, including independent startups like Motional, Nuro, and Wayve, and automakers like Lucid and Volkswagen. Uber wants to be the network of choice for all robo-taxis in the future, offering a variety of… Sweeteners for potential partnerssuch as fleet services and training data.

However, the company will need to overcome doubts that it will remain relevant – and continue to be a source of income for millions of drivers around the world – as more robotaxis come on the road.