Uber and Rivian have announced a new partnership to put 50,000 robotaxis on the road by 2031.
Uber is initially planning to buy 10,000 Rivian R2 SUVs equipped with the Rivian Autonomy Platform, which is currently in development, to launch the service through its app.
It said it will first offer the service in San Fransisco and Miami in 2028 and expand to 25 cities by 2031, at which date it has the option to purchase an additional 40,000 R2s.
“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. 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 Rivian Autonomy Platform uses a squite of sensors that includes lidar to achieve Level 4 autonomy, which provides full autonomy within defined service areas and conditions.
“I couldn’t be more excited for the work our teams are driving in autonomy and AI. Our updated hardware platform, which includes our in-house 1600 sparse TOPS inference chip, will enable us to achieve dramatic progress in self-driving to ultimately deliver on our goal of delivering L4. This represents an inflection point for the ownership experience – ultimately being able to give customers their time back when in the car,” Rivian Founder and CEO RJ Scaringe, said in a news release on the developments.
Uber will invest $300 million in Rivian for the first stage and a total of $1.25 billion with the 40,000 vehicle expansion. The service will compete with the likes of Waymo and Tesla’s Robotaxi app.
Uber is also working with Lucid to deploy autonomous versions of its current Gravity SUV and upcoming midsize SUV. Lucid unveiled a two-seat robotaxi concept last week that could eventually be used in the service, but has not confirmed a timeframe for when it would enter production.
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