Lucid Is Teaming Up With Uber And Nuro To Launch A Robotaxi Service
Lucid and Uber have a partnership that will use autonomous driving technology from Nuro to create a Robotaxi fleet for Uber that will begin operations in the U.S. starting next year.
The Nuro Driver system will be installed in the Lucid Gravity SUV, which has three rows of seating and almost minivan-like interior space.
“Autonomous vehicles have enormous potential to transform our cities for the better,” Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi said in a news release. “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.”
The vehicle is already being tested at a closed facility and will launch in a yet to be named U.S. city in 2026. The deal plans for 20,000 of the vehicles to be put into service over the next six years.
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The service will compete with Waymo, Tesla and others that are already on the road in several cities.
Uber had previously tried to develop its own autonomous technology in-house, but the program was canceled after a fatal accident in 2018.
Lucid this week also announced the launch of a new hands-off highway driving system for its production cars that is unrelated to the Nuro Driver technology. It is similar to GM’s Super Cruise and Ford’s BlueCruise and is capable of lane-centering adaptive cruise control and lane changes on certain divided highways.
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“The addition of these features to Lucid’s DreamDrive Pro offers a glimpse into the future that Lucid is building with the impressive capabilities of our software-defined vehicles,” Kai Stepper, Vice President of ADAS and AD at Lucid said. “With our in-house software stack, a comprehensive suite of 32 sensors, and regular OTA updates, we have a roadmap to continue to deliver significantly more functionality to our owners in the future.”