Uber Goes All In on Robotaxis With $10B Commitment

TLDR

• Uber has committed over $10 billion to autonomous vehicles, a major shift from its traditional asset-light model.
• The investment breaks down to $2.5 billion in equity stakes and over $7.5 billion on robotaxi fleets.
• Partners include Baidu, Rivian, and Lucid, with deals tied to deployment milestones.
• Uber plans to launch robotaxi services in at least 28 cities by 2028.
• The move comes as rivals Waymo and Tesla push ahead with driverless services.

Uber Technologies (UBER) is making its biggest strategic bet yet on autonomous vehicles, committing more than $10 billion to buy thousands of self-driving cars and take equity stakes in their makers, the Financial Times reported Wednesday.

Uber Technologies, Inc., UBER

The move marks a clear departure from the gig-economy, asset-light playbook that built Uber into a global ride-hailing giant.

Uber has already locked in partnerships across the autonomous vehicle space. Its roster of partners includes Chinese tech company Baidu (BIDU), electric vehicle maker Rivian (RIVN), and EV startup Lucid (LCID).

The deals are not unconditional. Each agreement is tied to deployment milestones that partners must hit before Uber’s full investment kicks in.

According to the FT’s calculations — based on analyst estimates and people with knowledge of the deals — Uber is on track to spend more than $2.5 billion acquiring equity stakes in these companies, with a further $7.5 billion going toward building out robotaxi fleets.

Reuters was unable to independently verify the report. Uber did not respond to a request for comment at time of publication.

A Marketplace, Not a Fleet Owner

Uber’s vision is not to become a robotaxi operator outright. Instead, it wants to position itself as the marketplace connecting passengers with multiple robotaxi providers — essentially running the platform layer on top of other companies’ fleets.

That approach mirrors what Uber already does with human drivers, but applied to a driverless world.

The company has set an ambitious target of launching robotaxi services in at least 28 cities by 2028. That timeline puts pressure on its partners to hit their own development and deployment goals.

UBER stock was up 0.79% at the time of reporting. Rivian (RIVN) edged up 0.57%, while Lucid (LCID) fell 4.76%.

Competitive Pressure Is Real

Uber’s shift in strategy doesn’t happen in a vacuum. Waymo, backed by Alphabet, has already launched paid robotaxi services in San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Phoenix. Tesla (TSLA) is pushing forward with its own driverless ambitions.

The urgency is visible in how quickly Uber is moving. Interest in autonomous vehicles has accelerated in recent months, driven by AI advances and new tech partnerships that are helping the industry tackle complex driving scenarios at lower cost.

For years, driverless promises went unfulfilled. That’s starting to change, and Uber clearly doesn’t want to be caught flat-footed.

The $10 billion figure reported by the FT represents Uber’s most concrete financial commitment to autonomous vehicles to date.

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