EVwire Brief: Uber Technologies is investing up to $1.25 billion in Rivian Automotive to deploy up to 50,000 R2 robotaxis.
The companies plan to deploy an initial 10,000 Rivian R2 robotaxis, with commercial operations expected to begin in San Francisco and Miami in 2028.
The program is then set to expand to as many as 25 cities across the U.S., Canada, and Europe by 2031.
Uber, or its fleet partners, will purchase the vehicles, with the robotaxis operating exclusively on the Uber platform.
The agreement also includes an option to acquire up to 40,000 additional units starting in 2030, depending on performance milestones and demand.
Uber’s investment will be tied to Rivian achieving key autonomy benchmarks, with an initial $300 million tranche committed, subject to regulatory approval.
Rivian’s R2 platform is central to the partnership, thanks to its third-generation autonomy system.
Rivian’s RAP1 chip is no lightweight
This includes a multi-modal sensor suite featuring 11 cameras, five radars, and one LiDAR, supported by dual in-house RAP1 chips delivering up to 1600 TOPS of compute.
Rivian CEO RJ Scaringe said the partnership would help accelerate the company’s path to Level 4 autonomy, while Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi pointed to Rivian’s vertically integrated approach across hardware, software, and manufacturing as a key factor behind the deal.
“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.”
All that trunk space in the R2 will be useful for robotaxi applications
Robotaxi push reflects broader autonomy race
Uber and Rivian’s partnership shows how both companies are positioning themselves in the nascent autonomous ride-hailing market, where scale, data, and vertical integration are becoming increasingly important.
Rivian’s approach combines vehicle design, compute hardware, and software into a single stack, supported by real-world data collected from its consumer fleet.
This data flywheel is expected to play a key role in improving autonomy performance over time.
For Uber, the deal represents a continued shift toward platform-based autonomy, where third-party vehicle partners supply the hardware while Uber manages the network, demand, and fleet operations.
Uber has positioned itself to become — in its own words — the largest facilitator of robotaxi trips in the world by 2029:
From Uber Q4 2025 deck
The robotaxi segment is still in its early stages, but it is growing fast. Today, about half a million robotaxi rides are completed in the U.S. every week, most of them from Waymo.
Once other players, like Tesla and its Cybercab fleet, ramp up, the robotaxi market will get even bigger.
This is why it’s so encouraging to see other companies like Uber and Rivian also throwing their hat in the robotaxi ring.
Source: Rivian press release
If you are looking to get more familiar with the current state of the robotaxi industry, read our fresh Robotaxi Report newsletter.
