Uber to invest $1.25B in Rivian for Georgia-made robotaxis

Thursday’s news is a major boost for Rivian, and shares of the company jumped nearly 5% in the morning. Rivian also landed a multibillion-dollar deal with German automobile giant Volkswagen in 2024 to share technology.

Rivian’s Georgia factory broke ground last year near Social Circle and is on track to start vertical construction this year, a Rivian spokesperson said. Production of new vehicles is slated to begin in 2028.

It’s not the first robotaxi deal announced with a Georgia auto plant. Hyundai Motor Group, which has a sprawling factory near Savannah, said in 2024 that autonomous vehicle company Waymo would be a customer.

Robotaxis have grown in popularity as a ride-hailing option in select states that legalized them, such as Georgia. Waymo, for example, launched in Atlanta last year, and now the driverless cars are a common sight on city streets.

Other autonomous ride-hailing providers are testing in the Atlanta area, including May Mobility and Zoox.

Goldman Sachs last July estimated as many as 35,000 robotaxis could zip around U.S. streets by 2030.

Uber expects to deploy 10,000 Rivian robotaxis in a first phase, according to a news release. The first vehicles are expected to roll out in San Francisco and Miami in 2028, with a broader expansion to 25 cities in the United States, Canada and Europe by 2031.

The driverless vehicles would be Rivian’s midsize SUV model, called the R2. In recent months, the company said it announced its “third-generation autonomy platform,” which includes 11 cameras and several radars.

Uber’s initial investment would be $300 million on the deal’s signing, subject to regulatory approval. Its full investment of $1.25 billion would be subject to “the achievement of certain autonomous milestones by specific dates,” the release states.

The companies said the option to negotiate the purchase of up to 40,000 more robotaxis would come in 2030.

“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.,” Dara Khosrowshahi, CEO of Uber, 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.”

Cox Enterprises, which owns The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, also owns about a 3% stake in Rivian.