$UBER is making a major move into autonomous vehicles by investing up to $1.25 billion in $RIVN as part of a long-term robotaxi partnership. The plan includes deploying thousands of fully autonomous Rivian R2 SUVs on Uber’s platform starting in 2028, with expansion across multiple cities over time. This shows Uber doubling down on partnerships instead of building its own self-driving tech, while Rivian gets a strong boost in demand and credibility. If execution goes well, this could be a big step toward scaling robotaxis globally, but it still depends heavily on hitting autonomy milestones.