Uber to invest up to $1.25 billion in Rivian for robotaxi push
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A view of a Rivian with its newly introduced autonomous driving system. Photo courtesy of Rivian
Uber plans to invest up to $1.25 billion in Rivian as part of an ambitious plan to deploy thousands of electric robotaxis across 25 cities starting in 2028.
Why it matters: Uber keeps upping the ante on its autonomous vehicle strategy, with a growing list of AV partnerships and increasingly big financial commitments for depot operations, EV charging and tens of thousands of robotaxis.
The latest: Uber and Rivian said they're partnering to help accelerate both companies' AV plans.
- They expect to deploy 10,000 Rivian robotaxis on Uber's rideshare network in the first phase of their partnership, starting in San Francisco and Miami in 2028, and expanding to 25 cities in the U.S., Canada and Europe by 2031.
- Uber's financial commitment comes with strings, however — it will invest $300 million in Rivian when the deal closes, subject to regulatory approval, and up to $1.25 billion in the EV maker through 2031, depending on certain autonomous milestones.
- Rivian today is working toward full autonomy, using technology developed mostly in-house. It currently offers hands-free assisted-driving features similar to Tesla and others.
The companies plan to build toward a scaled, fully-autonomous fleet of Rivian R2 robotaxis, available exclusively through the Uber platform.
- They also have the option to negotiate the purchase of up to 40,000 more of the vehicles beginning in 2030.
Between the lines: Autonomous vehicles are a threat to Uber, which abandoned an earlier effort to develop its own self-driving technology.
- Now it's defending its ride-hailing turf by deploying AV partners' vehicles on its platform and creating a new unit to help AV partners with operational issues.
Zoom in: Uber's growing list of AV partners includes more than 25 names.
- The company invested $300 million in Lucid and struck a three-way deal for 20,000 Lucid robotaxis powered by Nuro's self-driving technology.
- It invested another $250 million in AV tech company Waabi as part of a deal for at least 25,000 robotaxis.
- Just this week, Uber and NVIDIA said they'd deploy robotaxis across 28 cities by 2028 with multiple vehicle partners.
- Uber also plans to spend $100 million to develop new fast-charging hubs at AV depots in San Francisco, Los Angeles and Dallas, where robotaxis are cleaned, maintained and inspected by Uber.
Flashback: After a couple of early deals with Waymo, the two companies are now more like frenemies.
The bottom line: The Rivian deal is the latest, but probably not the last robotaxi deal for Uber.
