Uber and Rivian are making a major push into autonomous mobility, the companies announced, with plans to deploy up to 50,000 fully driverless robotaxis over the next decade.
The partnership centers on Rivian’s upcoming R2 electric SUV, which will serve as the basis for the robotaxi fleet that will operate exclusively on the Uber platform. The companies say an first phase will involve 10,000 fully autonomous vehicles, with first examples expected to operate in San Francisco and Miami starting in 2028. The program is intended to expand to as many as 25 cities across the US, Canada, and Europe by 2031.
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Uber will invest up to $1.25 billion in Rivian through 2031, based on the automaker reaching specific autonomy milestones. The initial $300 million investment, however, is predicated on regulatory approval. If the autonomy targets are met, the companies say they will roll out thousands of unsupervised, Level 4 autonomous vehicles in several major cities. Uber also holds an option to purchase up to 40,000 additional vehicles beginning in 2030.
“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,” said Rivian CEO RJ Scaringe.
Rivian
Upcoming Rivian R2.
Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi said Rivian’s vertically integrated approach is a major advantage. “We’re big believers in Rivian’s approach—designing the vehicle, compute platform, and software stack together… gives us conviction to set these ambitious but achievable targets,” he said.
The robotaxi fleet will rely on Rivian’s third-generation autonomy platform, set to debut in the R2. The system uses 11 cameras, five radars, and one LiDAR sensor, all powered by in-house computing capable of handling massive amounts of real-world driving data.
The deal puts the companies in competition with the likes of Waymo, Zoox, and Tesla in the rapidly growing robotaxi space.
But for a couple of sketchy, short-lived gigs right out of college, Natalie Neff has had the good fortune to spend the entirety of her professional life around cars. A 2017 Honda Ridgeline, 1972 VW Beetle, 1999 Ducati Monster and a well-loved purple-and-white five-speed Schwinn currently call her garage home.
