Uber Technologies said it would buy vehicles made by Rivian to be used as self-driving taxis and invest at least $300 million in the company, as it moves to strengthen its foothold in the nascent market for driverless ride sharing.
Uber said it would buy 10,000 R2 sport utility vehicles, which will carry passengers without drivers using software developed by Rivian. The company is planning to deploy those vehicles in Miami and San Francisco beginning in 2028.
Last week, Uber announced a similar deal with Lucid, which, like Rivian, is a relatively young company that makes only electric vehicles. Lucid, which already supplies autonomous versions of its Gravity sport utility vehicle to Uber, said it was in “advanced talks” to also provide midsize vehicles.
The agreements provide cash to Rivian and Lucid, neither of which is profitable.
Uber said that if the technology advances as planned, it could invest up to $1.25 billion in Rivian through 2031 and buy another 40,000 vehicles. The company is hoping to offer rides in Rivian vehicles in 25 U.S. cities by the end of 2031.
Driverless taxis are potentially a threat to Uber, which makes most of its revenue from providing rides to passengers in cars driven by humans. The company has been experimenting with ways to play a role as software increasingly takes responsibility for navigating, steering and braking.
Uber already works with Waymo, a division of Alphabet, Google’s parent company. In Atlanta and Austin, Texas, passengers can use the Uber app to hail a Waymo driverless taxi. Uber also provides service and maintenance to Waymo vehicles.
In November, Uber began offering driverless rides in Abu Dhabi in cooperation with WeRide, an autonomous taxi company based in China.
This month, Rivian began allowing customers to place detailed orders for the R2, which has a starting price of $58,000. Rivian plans to offer a version of the sport utility vehicle with a sticker price of $48,500 next year as it tries to appeal to a broader market.
Jack Ewing covers the auto industry for The Times, with an emphasis on electric vehicles.
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