Uber & Rivian Announce Autonomous R2 Robotaxi Partnership (w/ 1.25 Billion Investment)

[artuvian]

Interesting...so first with Lucid and now Rivian? Uber has money like that?

I had to look it up, but the Uber-Lucid deal is only $300M. Uber-Rivian is $1.25B.

I still need to look up the finer points on both though.

I watched Diary of a CEO with the Uber CEO and this deal makes perfect sense with how he mentioned the future of AI and Uber.

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[kurtlikevonnegut]

Imagine Uber branching out to start doing automated tours at National Parks using R2.

 

[NaeemTHM]

Hey these R2's for Uber better roll out AFTER we get our R2's

 

[artuvian]

Well yes. Rivian has to prove their autonomous system first; it's part of the contract. And the first ones for Uber roll out 2028.

 

[narmstrong79]

Hey these R2's for Uber better roll out AFTER we get our R2's

They will roll out when Lidar is ready, and Uber getting delivery over consumers will come down to what they need to do to make their investors happy.

 

[100jacks]

The stock is up big this morning!

I just bought me some. It's not up big, it's was floating around 15$ before, it jumped to 17.08, now it's selling around $16, but the financial outlets forecasts are not positive. I just have crazy hope in this brand.

 

[narmstrong79]

On a side note: Whenever a "cool" car becomes a Taxi, Cop Car, etc... it really loses its cool factor. Its a good business move, but how does it align with the "adventure" narrative ?

 

[BigSkies]

I previously made some posts that were highly skeptical of Rivian's business logic on autonomy.

I take those comments back. A partnership like this makes the effort worth it. Capital is coming into the company to pay for a chunk of the very expensive development effort and the incremental sales area meaningful if they make the business work.

That's a big "if", but it's believable.

I still wouldn't personally pay for an autonomy subscription.

 

[narmstrong79]

I previously made some posts that were highly skeptical of Rivian's business logic on autonomy.

I take those comments back. A partnership like this makes the effort worth it. Capital is coming into the company to pay for a chunk of the very expensive development effort and the incremental sales area meaningful if they make the business work.

That's a big "if", but it's believable.

I still wouldn't personally pay for an autonomy subscription.

Yes, I complained that "Ai day" was a presentation to boost the stock and not consumer friendly. Announcing new hardware before the R2 even rolled out was dumb.

This now doubled down on that. Ai day was so they could further this partnership and announce it.. Again for a stock bump.

 

[TexasBob]

Lucid / Nuro / Uber / NVIDIA are out on the roads with test vehicles. This one near my house in Houston a couple of weeks ago.

Uber is signing up with everyone with contracts contingent on the system working and gettiing certified. It is a smart move (and excellent for Rivian if they can pull it off). They have deals with:
Direct hardware co-development

• BYD
• Stellantis/NVIDIA/Foxconn
• Lucid/Nuro/Nvidia
• Now Rivian

Bring Your Own Complete Vehicle

• Waymo
• WeRide
• Zoox
• Wayve/Nissan (Tokyo)
• Avrides/Motional

/

 

[mkhuffman]

The stock is up big this morning!

I just bought me some. It's not up big, it's was floating around 15$ before, it jumped to 17.08, now it's selling around $16, but the financial outlets forecasts are not positive. I just have crazy hope in this brand.

It's not up big until it hits my break even of $65/share.

But seriously, it isn't even as high as it was a couple months ago. So definitely not big, yet.

 

[savethemanual]

Go Rivian! I’m out of town right now at a conference and have easily spent a few hundred dollars on Uber. And, have rented a few E bikes, would love to see the new Also bikes out there in the large metro areas to rent.

 

[mkhuffman]

Evolution? Uber displaced the Taxi industry, RoboTaxi displace the rideshare industry. I don't love it, but this is the future we're in.

And ditch diggers were replaced by this:

There is always disruption when change happens. Automation makes things better, not worse.

I am super excited about the future with more things automated, including transportation. Because the quality of life will improve for everyone, as has always been the case.

Rivian is going to rock it if they can nail L4. Their cost structure will be so much lower than those "leasing" self-driving technology from others. Tesla's FSD has a similar cost structure, but as others have pointed out, can camera only really work for L4?

Come on, $65!!!

 

[100jacks]

Yeah. Despite all the negative financial forecast, I believe the Rivian stock is on sale now.
I bought into that Lordstown motors, before it went bankrupt, so I understand your point.

 

[narmstrong79]

And ditch diggers were replaced by this:

There is always disruption when change happens. Automation makes things better, not worse.

The backhoe made the ditch digging more productive, but it also changed who gets the profit. The transition from a shovel to a backhoe happened over decades, allowing the labor market time to adjust.

Modern AI and robotics are moving at an exponential pace with limited opportunity for the displaced, consolidating profits to specific companies.

Labor jobs, while grueling, provided a low-barrier entry point into the workforce for people without (or without access too) formal education or other trade skills.

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