Why Rivian Stock Rallied Today
Key Points
Uber is helping to fund the development of Rivian's autonomous technology.
Competition is fierce, but Rivian CEO RJ Scaringe likes his chances.
- 10 stocks we like better than Rivian Automotive ›
Shares of Rivian Automotive (NASDAQ: RIVN) rose on Thursday after the electric vehicle (EV) maker struck a lucrative deal with ride-hailing leader Uber Technologies (NYSE: UBER).
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The path to autonomy
Rivian and Uber will work together to advance their autonomous-driving initiatives.
Uber and its fleet partners will buy as many as 50,000 fully autonomous R2 robotaxis from Rivian. Initial deliveries are slated to start in 2028 in Miami and San Francisco, with a planned expansion to 25 cities by 2031.
Additionally, Uber will invest up to $1.25 billion in Rivian through 2031, beginning with an initial $300 million investment. Rivian will need to reach technological milestones to receive the full amount.
"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.," Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi said.
The self-driving race is heating up
The deal should allow Rivian to better compete with industry titans like Tesla and Alphabet's Waymo. Yet the EV upstart remains at a significant disadvantage to its well-heeled rivals.
Rivian ended 2025 with $6 billion in cash and investments. Tesla ended the year with $44 billion in reserves, and Waymo raised $16 billion in February.
Still, Rivian CEO RJ Scaringe is undaunted.
"We couldn't be more excited about this partnership with Uber -- it will help accelerate our path to level 4 autonomy to create one of the safest and most convenient autonomous platforms in the world," Scaringe said.
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Joe Tenebruso has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Alphabet, Tesla, and Uber Technologies. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
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