Uber is investing $1.25 billion in Rivian to build 10,000 robotaxis using the Irvine, Calif.-based carmaker’s $45,000 electric SUV, the R2.
The companies said in a March 19 announcement that the deal is a “partnership to help accelerate both companies’ autonomous vehicle plans.”
“Uber will invest up to $1.25 billion in Rivian through 2031, subject to the achievement of certain autonomous milestones by specific dates, building towards a scaled, fully-autonomous fleet of Rivian R2 robotaxis, which will be available exclusively through the Uber platform,” the companies said in the announcement.
Rivian CEO RJ Scaringe said in a statement the partnership with Uber “will help accelerate our path to level 4 autonomy to create one of the safest and most convenient autonomous platforms in the world.”
Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi said in a statement his company is a “big believer 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.”
With that in mind, the USA TODAY Cars team took a look at why this deal is important to both companies and what it could mean for one of their chief robotaxi rivals, Tesla.
Why Are Rivian and Uber Making a Robotaxi Deal?
Khosrowshahi, the Uber CEO, said the deal makes sense for his company because Rivian’s “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.”
Scaringe, the Rivian CEO, said he is confident in his company’s ability to scale up its production to make the thousands of autonomous vehicles Uber will need for its robotaxi service.
“The scale of Rivian’s growing data flywheel coupled with RAP1, 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,” he said.
The deal is Uber’s second big partnership announcement in the autonomous space in the beginning of 2026. On March 11, Zoox and Uber Technologies Inc. announced a strategic partnership “to deploy Zoox purpose-built robotaxis on Uber,” says an Uber investor news release.
What Are Uber and Rivian’s Stock Prices After the Announcement?
Rivian stock was trading at $16.80 per share on the NASDAQ stock exchange on the morning of Thursday, March 19. That’s up from $15.53 per share that the stock was priced at after the close of trading on Wednesday, March 18.
Uber stock was trading at $77.30 per share on the New York Stock Exchange on the morning of Thursday, March 19. That’s up from a close of $76.66 at the end of trading on Wednesday, March 18.
What to Know About Rivian’s R2
The R2 is Rivian’s upcoming electric SUV, which company officials say will be more affordable than its previous models and crucial to its long-term future as a viable automaker.
The Irvine, California-based company says in a post on its website that the R2 will seat five people and have an estimated battery range of about 300 miles.
The vehicle is expected to start around $45,000 and be released in the first half of 2026.
Rivian CEO RJ Scaringe said in a Jan. 29 appearance on the “On with Kara Swisher” podcast that the R2 is important to his company’s plans to scale up into becoming a mass market electric vehicle producer.
“Rivian isn’t being designed just for R1,” Scaringe said. “If the goal is to build a company that’s only going to make 15,000 cars a year, it would look very different as a business. But we’ve really invested in the business, contemplating and planning for Rivian to be a much larger company. And so because of that, R2 does need to be successful to support the rate of capital construction of the business because of how much tech we’re developing and how much infrastructure we’re building.”
What Does the Uber-Rivian Partnership Mean for Tesla’s Cybercab?
Tesla is one of Uber’s main rivals in the robotaxi space and it is also one of Rivian’s chief rivals in the domestic electric vehicle market.
Tesla is promoting its new Cybercab, which the company describes on its website as a “purpose-built fully autonomous vehicle” that “will offer rides in your area in the future.”
Tesla CEO Elon Musk has said the Cybercab will be a big part of his company’s “overall shift to an autonomous future.”
Tesla says it plans to begin mass production of the Cybercab in April 2026. The Silicon Valley company currently operates its Robotaxis using its Model Y electric SUV in limited areas of Austin, Texas and California.
Tesla stock was trading at $383.39 per share on the NASDAQ stock exchange on the morning of Thursday, March 19. That’s down from a close of $392.78 at the end of Wednesday, March 18 trading.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Uber taps Rivian for robotaxis in $1.25B deal. Here’s what to know
Reporting by Keith Laing, USA TODAY / USA TODAY
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
