Rivian stock pops on $1.25 billion robotaxi deal with Uber

• Rivian is the latest company to strike a robotaxi deal with Uber, sending its stock higher on Thursday.
• The ride-hailer has agreed to buy up to 50,000 autonomous R2 EVs and invest up to $1.25 billion in the Tesla rival.
• The robotaxi fleet is set to begin operating in San Francisco and Miami in 2028.

Uber is striking robotaxi deals left and right, and Rivian is the latest automaker to join its roster.

The electric vehicle maker's stock rose as much as 10% on Thursday after the two companies announced a deal for Uber to buy 10,000 fully autonomous Rivian robotaxis and invest up to $1.25 billion in the Tesla rival through 2031. Uber shares were down as much as 2% in the session.

The fleet of autonomous R2 electric robotaxis would enter commercial service in San Francisco and Miami in 2028 before scaling to 25 US cities by 2031. The two companies said Uber would have the option to purchase up to 40,000 more Rivian robotaxis in 2030.

The partnership comes as both Uber and Rivian make aggressive moves in the nascent but fast-growing robotaxi market.

Uber, which abandoned its own autonomous vehicle program in 2020, has struck a dizzying array of deals with leading tech companies and automakers that will see it add tens of thousands of robotaxis to its app.

These include deals with Waymo, Wayve, and Chinese firms Baidu and Momenta to introduce autonomous ride-hailing services in cities across the US, Europe, the Middle East, and Japan.

The ride-hailing giant has also agreed to deploy 5,000 Nvidia-powered robotaxis built by Stellantis, 20,000 Lucid robotaxis with tech from autonomous vehicle startup Nuro, and 25,000 autonomous vehicles from Canadian autonomous trucking startup Waabi.

Rivian, meanwhile, unveiled a new silicon chip in December that it said would be a critical step toward allowing its vehicles to drive fully autonomously.

The California EV maker also announced its own Tesla-style subscription model, Autonomy+, which will eventually allow eyes-off driving and robotaxi applications.

The Uber deal will also be a major boost to Rivian's sales, as the company seeks to scale its new R2 electric vehicle amid an industry-wide EV downturn.

Rivian has said it expects to sell between 62,000 and 67,000 vehicles in 2026, up from around 42,000 last year.