Uber is partnering with robotics company Nuro and electric vehicle manufacturer Lucid to deploy 20,000 or more Lucid Gravity vehicles equipped with Nuro's autonomy system.
Uber said it is making “multi-hundred-million dollar investments” as part of the deal. However, other sources reported that Uber will be investing $300 million in Nuro, specifically.
The robotaxi program is set to launch later in 2026 in a major city in the United States, then expanding to global markets over the next six years.
The autonomous Nuro Driver system “combines automotive-grade hardware and AI-powered self-driving software designed for reliability and cost-efficiency at scale,” the companies said.
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The first Lucid-Nuro robotaxi prototype is being tested on one of Nuro’s private facilities in Las Vegas. The companies noted that Nuro will be evaluating the vehicles' safety across several different categories.
The vehicles will be owned and operated by Uber or its third-party fleet providers and available for riders to schedule through the app.
“Autonomous vehicles have enormous potential to transform our cities for the better,” said Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi. “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.”
Uber said the Lucid Gravity has a 450-mile Environmental Protection Agency estimated range, meaning these vehicles require less downtime for charging and can then minimize cost while maximizing availability.
“We believe this partnership will demonstrate what’s possible when proven AV technology meets real-world scale,” said Nuro co-founder and CEO Jiajun Zhu.
“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.”
Earlier this week, Uber also announced a partnership with Chinese tech company Baidu to launch Baidu's Apollo Go autonomous vehicles (AVs) on the Uber platform across global markets outside of the U.S. and China.
In May, Uber announced that it was partnering with another China-based AV company, Pony.ai, and expanding its partnership with WeRide, which specializes in autonomous driving technology. The rideshare giant also announced a multi-year partnership with May Mobility to bring thousands of AVs to the Uber platform in the U.S.