Uber to invest up to $1.25 billion in Rivian as part of robotaxi deal
· CNA · JoinRead a summary of this article on FAST.
Get bite-sized news via a new
cards interface. Give it a try.
Click here to return to FAST Tap here to return to FAST
FAST
SAN FRANCISCO, March 19 : Uber will invest up to $1.25 billion in electric vehicle maker Rivian as part of a deal in which the ride-hailing firm will start deploying 10,000 fully autonomous R2 SUVs as robotaxis from 2028, the companies said on Thursday.
Rivian's shares rose about 9 per cent in premarket trading.
San Francisco-based Uber will make an initial investment of $300 million, and will fund the remaining amount through 2031, subject to Rivian meeting certain autonomous milestones, the companies said.
Interest in driverless taxis has surged in recent months after years of missed promises, with artificial intelligence and tech partnerships offering hopes of solving complex traffic scenarios faster and mitigating high costs.
CNA Games
Guess Word
Crack the word, one row at a time
Buzzword
Create words using the given letters
Mini Sudoku
Tiny puzzle, mighty brain teaser
Mini Crossword
Small grid, big challenge
Word Search
Spot as many words as you can
Show More
Show Less
While Rivian, known for its high-end R1S SUVs and R1T pickup trucks, has not launched a robotaxi yet, it unveiled its first custom computer chip for self-driving in December. The company is also gearing up to roll out its smaller, more affordable R2 SUVs this quarter.
Meanwhile, Alphabet's Waymo, which runs about 2,500 robotaxis in several U.S. cities, has accelerated its rollouts, while Tesla has launched a small robotaxi service in Austin, Texas, with CEO Elon Musk promising rapid expansion this year.
R2 robotaxis will be available exclusively on Uber's platform, starting with San Francisco and Miami, the companies said, adding that Uber has the option to buy up to 40,000 more beginning in 2030.
"Should all milestones be achieved, the companies will have deployed thousands of unsupervised Rivian R2 robotaxis across 25 cities in the U.S., Canada, and Europe by the end of 2031," they said.
Uber is positioning itself as a marketplace for multiple robotaxi operators, and has partnered across much of the autonomous vehicle industry, including with Waymo, Baidu and Lucid.
It is also working with Nvidia on autonomous driving, leveraging the chip designer's AI and simulation platforms to support the development and scaling of robotaxi systems.
Newsletter
Week in Review
Subscribe to our Chief Editor’s Week in Review
Our chief editor shares analysis and picks of the week's biggest news every Saturday.
Sign up for our newsletters
Get our pick of top stories and thought-provoking articles in your inbox
Get the CNA app
Stay updated with notifications for breaking news and our best stories
Get WhatsApp alerts
Join our channel for the top reads for the day on your preferred chat app