Uber Technologies announced a partnership with Rivian Automotive, Inc. to accelerate the deployment of fully autonomous robotaxis, backed by a commitment to invest up to $1.25 billion through 2031. The collaboration is designed to scale a fleet of Rivian R2 autonomous vehicles operating exclusively on the Uber platform, marking a significant step forward in both companies’ autonomous vehicle strategies.
The agreement includes an initial $300 million investment, subject to regulatory approval, with additional funding tied to the achievement of specific autonomous performance milestones. As part of the partnership, Uber and its fleet partners are expected to purchase 10,000 fully autonomous R2 robotaxis in the first phase, with an option to acquire up to 40,000 more vehicles beginning in 2030.
Initial commercial deployments are planned for San Francisco and Miami starting in 2028, with expansion targeted across 25 cities in the United States, Canada, and Europe by 2031. If all milestones are met, the companies expect to deploy thousands of unsupervised autonomous vehicles, advancing toward a scaled, fully autonomous mobility network.
The partnership is intended to accelerate Rivian’s development of level 4 autonomy, leveraging its vertically integrated approach that combines vehicle design, software, and compute platforms. Rivian’s third-generation autonomy system, expected to launch with the R2 platform in late 2026, includes a multi-modal sensor suite with 11 cameras, five radars, and one LiDAR, powered by in-house RAP1 chips delivering 1600 TOPS of AI compute performance.
By combining Rivian’s vehicle and autonomy technology with Uber’s global mobility platform and fleet operations expertise, the companies aim to create a large-scale autonomous transportation network capable of operating across multiple markets.
KEY QUOTES:
“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 scale of Rivian’s growing data flywheel coupled with RAP1, our state of the art in-house inference platform, and our multi-modal perception platform make us incredibly excited for the rapid advancement of Rivian autonomy over the next couple of years.”
RJ Scaringe, Founder And CEO, Rivian Automotive, Inc.
“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. 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.”
Dara Khosrowshahi, CEO, Uber Technologies, Inc.
