Uber Bets Big on Robotaxis Again - But This Time It’s Owning the Fleet 🚖🤖

This marks a notable shift from the past. Following a fatal accident in 2018 and mounting financial losses, Uber sold its autonomous driving division, Uber ATG, and pivoted toward partnerships. Since then, it has worked with major players like Waymo and WeRide, integrating their self-driving fleets into its platform while leaving ownership and operations to those partners.

Uber has started securing large-scale vehicle deals of its own. In 2025, it partnered with Lucid Motors to acquire up to 20,000 vehicles equipped with autonomy technology from Nuro. More recently, it announced a similar agreement with Rivian, planning to purchase at least 10,000 autonomous vehicles based on Rivian’s upcoming R2 platform - with the option to scale that number significantly if development milestones are met. Uber is also investing hundreds of millions of dollars into Rivian as part of the arrangement.

The company aims to roll out these robotaxis in cities like San Francisco and Miami by 2028, with ambitions to expand to dozens of cities in the following years.

However, there are still major hurdles. Rivian’s autonomous system is not yet fully developed, and production of the R2 platform hasn’t begun. The project will require significant investment in technology, manufacturing, and testing before it becomes commercially viable.

For Uber, this strategy represents a departure from its long-standing “asset-light” philosophy. Under CEO Dara Khosrowshahi, the company has consistently positioned itself as a marketplace rather than a fleet owner. But by purchasing and deploying thousands of specialized autonomous vehicles, Uber is now taking on both financial risks - like depreciation - and operational risks tied to performance and safety.

At the same time, Uber continues to collaborate with other autonomous tech companies, including Motional and Zoox, while also exploring future partnerships with Nvidia.

What remains unclear is how this shift will affect its existing relationships - particularly whether partners may begin to see Uber as a competitor rather than just a platform.

Ultimately, Uber’s new direction signals a calculated bet: that owning part of the autonomous fleet this time around will be more sustainable - and less costly - than its earlier attempt.