Uber Technologies Inc. (NYSE: UBER) and Rivian Automotive Inc. (NASDAQ: RIVN) announced a partnership to deploy up to 50,000 autonomous robotaxis, with initial commercial operations planned for San Francisco and Miami in 2028.

Under the agreement, Uber will invest up to $1.25 billion in Rivian through 2031, contingent on achieving specific autonomous vehicle milestones. The partnership includes an initial $300 million investment following the agreement's signing, subject to regulatory approval.

The companies plan to purchase 10,000 fully autonomous Rivian R2 vehicles initially, with an option to acquire up to 40,000 additional units beginning in 2030. The autonomous vehicles will be available exclusively through Uber's platform.

Commercial deployments are expected to begin in 2028 in San Francisco and Miami, expanding to 25 cities across the United States, Canada, and Europe by 2031. Uber or its fleet partners will handle the vehicle purchases.

Rivian's R2 vehicles will feature the company's third-generation autonomy platform, launching in late 2026. The system includes 11 cameras, five radars, one LiDAR sensor, and two in-house RAP1 chips capable of 1,600 TOPS of AI compute performance.

"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.," said Dara Khosrowshahi, Uber's CEO.

RJ Scaringe, Rivian's founder and CEO, said the partnership "will help accelerate our path to level 4 autonomy to create one of the safest and most convenient autonomous platforms in the world."

The information is based on a joint press release from both companies.