Uber, Nuro and Lucid are to produce a next-generation premium global robotaxi programme, created exclusively for the former’s ride-hailing platform.
Expected to go live in 2026 in a ‘major’ US city, the new robotaxi service combines the software-defined vehicle architecture of the Lucid Gravity, the scalability and capability of the Nuro Driver Level 4 autonomy system and Uber’s global network and dynamic fleet management, delivering a fully integrated robotaxi experience developed for comfort, safety, and scale, the companies say.
Uber aims to deploy 20,000 or more Lucid vehicles equipped with the Nuro Driver over six years. The vehicles will be owned and operated by Uber or its third-party fleet partners and made available to riders exclusively via the Uber platform. The first Lucid-Nuro robotaxi prototype is already operating autonomously on a closed circuit at Nuro’s Las Vegas proving grounds.
As part of a deepening relationship with each partner, Uber plans to make multi-hundred-million dollar investments in both Nuro and Lucid, with reports suggesting that figure is over $300m in the case of California-based Lucid, formerly known as Atieva.
“Autonomous vehicles have enormous potential to transform our cities for the better,” said Dara Khosrowshahi, CEO of Uber. “We’re thrilled to partner with Nuro and Lucid on this new robotaxi program, purpose-built just for the Uber platform, to safely bring the magic of autonomous driving to more people across the world.”
“This investment from Uber further validates Lucid’s fully redundant zonal architecture and highly capable platform as ideal for autonomous vehicles, and our industry-leading range and spacious well-appointed interiors, as ideal for ridesharing,” said Marc Winterhoff, Interim CEO at Lucid. “This is the start of our path to extend our innovation and technology leadership into this multi-trillion-dollar market.”
“We believe this partnership will demonstrate what’s possible when proven AV technology meets real-world scale,” said Jiajun Zhu, Co-Founder and CEO at Nuro. “Nuro has spent nearly a decade building an AI-first autonomy system that’s safe, scalable, and vehicle-agnostic, proven through five years of driverless deployments across multiple U.S. cities and states. By combining our self-driving technology with Lucid’s advanced vehicle architecture and Uber’s global platform, we’re proud to enable a robotaxi service designed to reach millions of people around the world.”
(Pic: Lucid?Nuro/Uber)
