Uber to invest up to 1.25bn dollars in Rivian to help launch robotaxis

Uber says it will invest up to 1.25 billion US dollars (£930 million) in Rivian Automotive to help launch up to 50,000 robotaxis.

Uber, or its fleet partners, are expected to buy 10,000 fully autonomous Rivian R2 robotaxis, with the option to purchase up to 40,000 more in 2030.

The companies said on Thursday that initial deployments of the vehicles are expected to begin in San Francisco and Miami in 2028 and will expand to 25 cities in the US, 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 US,” Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi said 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.”

Uber’s investment in Rivian will be spread out up to 2031 and is subject to hitting certain autonomous milestones by specific dates.

An initial 300 million dollars investment has been committed to following the deal’s signing, subject to regulatory approval.

Rivian of Irvine, California, makes a high-end R1T pick-up truck and the R1S SUV, as well as delivery vans for Amazon and others. It will begin making the smaller R2 this year.

The automaker started long-delayed work on a five billion dollars facility in Georgia last year.

In pre-market trading, shares of Rivian rose 10%. Uber shares edged up less than 1%.