Uber to Invest up to $1.25 Billion in Rivian to Launch 50,000 Robotaxis

On March 19, 2026, CNBC reported that Uber Technologies plans to invest up to $1.25 billion in Rivian Automotive under a new agreement to deploy as many as 50,000 robotaxis across multiple countries by 2031.

As part of the partnership, Uber or its fleet partners are expected to purchase 10,000 autonomous versions of Rivian’s upcoming R2 electric vehicle, with the option to scale that number by an additional 40,000 units starting in 2030, according to a joint release.

The agreement reflects renewed momentum in the robotaxi and autonomous vehicle sector, as companies position themselves for what many investors believe could become a multitrillion-dollar market. That said, several players in the space, including Uber, have historically struggled to meet aggressive autonomy timelines.

The deal includes an initial $300 million investment from Uber into Rivian, expected to close soon pending regulatory approval. This tranche represents roughly 19.55 million shares of Rivian, according to the automaker. Additional investments will be distributed in four separate tranches tied to milestone achievements through 2031. Uber will also pay licensing fees to utilize Rivian’s autonomous driving software platform.

“We’re big believers 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.,” Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi said in the release. “That 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.”

The companies said the R2 robotaxis will be offered exclusively through Uber’s platform across 25 cities in the U.S., Canada, and Europe. Initial deployments are planned for San Francisco and Miami beginning in 2028.

This agreement adds to Rivian’s recent capital momentum, including a $5.8 billion software partnership with Volkswagen announced in late 2024. It also expands Uber’s growing network of autonomous partnerships, which includes collaborations with Lucid Motors, Zoox, Stellantis, and Nvidia.

“The scale of Rivian’s growing data flywheel coupled with RAP1 [Rivian Autonomy Processor], 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,” Scaringe said in the Thursday release.

Rivian CEO RJ Scaringe has increasingly emphasized the company’s robotaxi ambitions, pointing to the R2 platform and advances in artificial intelligence and semiconductor performance as key enablers. The U.S. robotaxi market is currently led by Waymo, backed by Alphabet. Tesla has a tiny number of robotaxis on the road today, and the company is widely believed to be massively failing at that effort.