Uber to invest up to $1.25 billion in EV maker Rivian in deal to launch 50,000 robotaxis

Uber Technologies plans to invest up to $1.25 billion in electric vehicle maker Rivian Automotive as part of a deal to deploy up to 50,000 robotaxis in several countries through 2031, the companies announced Thursday.
The tie-up includes expectations for Uber, or its fleet partners, to purchase 10,000 autonomous versions of Rivian's upcoming R2 electric vehicle, with the option to purchase up to 40,000 more robotaxis beginning in 2030, according to a release from the companies.
Shares of Rivian were up roughly 10% during premarket trading Thursday, while Uber's stock was relatively flat following the announcement.
The deal is the latest in a resurgence of announcements about autonomous vehicles and robotaxis, as companies attempt to capitalize on what investors have forecast as a multitrillion-dollar market. Many companies, including Uber, have previously failed to hit their targets when it comes to robotaxis.
An initial $300 million investment from Uber to Rivian, which is preparing to begin R2 sales to consumer this spring, is expected soon following the deal's signing, subject to regulatory approval, according to the release.
The companies said other investment tranches will occur subject to hitting certain milestones by unspecified dates through 2031. The companies said the R2 robotaxis are expected to be available exclusively through Uber's platform in 25 cities across the the U.S., Canada and Europe. The first cities are planned to be San Francisco and Miami in 2028, they said.
"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.," Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi said in the release. "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 deal is the latest capital investment for Rivian following a $5.8 billion software deal with German automaker Volkswagen announced at the end of 2024. It also marks an increase in Uber's plans for robotaxis following recent announcements with EV maker Lucid, Amazon's Zoox, Chrysler parent Stellantis and tech giant Nvidia.
Rivian CEO RJ Scaringe recently started talking about the company's ambitions for robotaxis, including on the EV-maker's third-quarter results call in November and at its first-ever "Autonomy and AI Day" in December.
Scaringe said Rivian's forthcoming R2 and the technologies supporting it would enable the company to pursue robotaxis, which are currently dominated in the U.S. by by Alphabet-backed Waymo.
Scaringe and other executives have said the emergence of new technologies, including artificial intelligence and more capable semiconductor chips, will allow companies to finally succeed with robotaxis.
"The scale of Rivian's growing data flywheel coupled with RAP1 [Rivian Autonomy Processor], 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," Scaringe said in the Thursday release.
— CNBC's Lora Kolodny contributed to this report.