Uber is investing hundreds of millions into the robotaxi wars.
The company partnered with Lucid, which makes the Gravity EVs that Uber will use in its robotaxi fleet.
Lucid’s stock was up more than 43% in premarket trading.
Uber is turning to Lucid as it looks to play catch-up in the robotaxi wars.
More than four and a half years after Uber sold off its autonomous vehicle division, the company is investing $300 million into Lucid as part of a new robotaxi deal.
Lucid will make the vehicles for Uber’s robotaxis, based on its Gravity EV. Uber is also partnering with self-driving technology company Nuro, which will power the autonomous driving capabilities. Uber expects the tech to launch “later next year in a major US city.”
“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.”
Lucid’s stock price jumped more than 43% in pre-market trading following news of the partnership, while Uber’s stock price was slightly up before the opening bell.
Uber said it plans to deploy a fleet of 20,000 robotaxis over the next six years. The company said its first prototype is “already operating autonomously on a closed circuit at Nuro’s Las Vegas proving grounds.”
The robotaxi wars have been heating up over the last year, with market leader Waymo, owned by Google parent company Alphabet, operating autonomous rides in multiple states.
Tesla launched a limited rollout of its robotaxi program in Austin earlier this summer. While the cars drive themselves, Tesla employees still ride in the vehicles with passengers for safety reasons.
Lyft also plans to launch rides with AVs in Dallas as soon as next year, TechCrunch reported in February.
Uber agreed to sell its autonomous vehicle division to startup Aurora in December 2020. At the time, it was grappling with a pandemic-induced downturn in its ride-hailing business.
Since then, Uber has offered rides in autonomous vehicles in Atlanta and Austin through a partnership with Waymo. Riders can request a ride in an AV through Uber’s app in those cities.
If adopted widely, robotaxis would present a way for Uber and other ridesharing services to bypass human drivers. In January, Khosrowshahi said that Uber doesn’t expect robotaxis to replace the company’s gig-worker drivers for the next decade.
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