Rivian + Uber robotaxi deal
Rivian and Uber announced a multi‑year partnership to deploy 10,000 fully autonomous Rivian R2 robotaxis — with potential expansion to 25 cities and up to $1.25 billion in milestone investments — signalling scale‑up of autonomous mobility that could reshape last‑mile logistics. The pact is primarily urban passenger focused but points to long‑term automation opportunities in transport and logistics. (sg.finance.yahoo.com)
Uber is committing an initial $300 million to Rivian as the first tranche of funding, with additional payments tied to autonomous‑performance milestones that extend through 2031. (secure.businesswire.com)) The contract gives Uber or its fleet partners an option to expand vehicle purchases beginning in 2030, enabling the agreement to move into larger commercial phases if milestones are met. (secure.businesswire.com)) Rivian and Uber plan initial commercial rollouts in San Francisco and Miami targeted for 2028, with a staged geographic expansion across North America and Europe through the end of the decade. (secure.businesswire.com)) The companies say the R2 robotaxis will be offered exclusively on the Uber platform and that portions of the investment are subject to regulatory approvals tied to unsupervised operation. (secure.businesswire.com)) Rivian describes its third‑generation autonomy stack for the R2 as a multi‑modal system including 11 cameras, five radars and one LiDAR, paired with its in‑house RAP1 inference compute platform. (secure.businesswire.com)) Rivian has expanded its Normal, Illinois campus with a 1.1 million‑square‑foot addition and states the completed plant will have a planned capacity of about 215,000 total units, a scale aimed at supporting large fleet programs. (stories.rivian.com)) Rivian’s CEO highlighted the company’s “data flywheel” and RAP1 compute as strategic advantages while Uber’s CEO cited Rivian’s U.S. manufacturing and vertical supply control as reasons the companies set ambitious commercialization targets. (secure.businesswire.com))
