Uber to Launch Autonomous Taxis in San Francisco

Uber announced on Wednesday that it will debut its specialized autonomous taxi service in the San Francisco Bay Area, with a launch projected for late 2026.

Back in July, the ride-hailing giant revealed it was collaborating with Lucid Motors and Nuro Inc. to develop this robotaxi, which is built exclusively for Uber. The vehicle is designed off the Lucid Gravity SUV platform.

Recently, Lucid provided test vehicles to Nuro, and Uber mentioned plans to deploy 100 test cars over the next few months.

Looking ahead, Uber aims to introduce 20,000 or more autonomous taxis based on Lucid’s design by the end of six years. Riders will be able to book these vehicles via the Uber app.

In addition to Lucid, Uber is partnering with various companies to expedite the rollout of its autonomous fleet.

On Tuesday, Uber also disclosed that it is working with Nvidia and Stellantis. Stellantis anticipates starting the production of at least 5,000 vehicles utilizing Nvidia’s autonomous software by 2028 in the U.S.

Last week, Uber began providing autonomous taxi rides in Saudi Arabia through a partnership with WeRide, a Chinese autonomous vehicle firm. Uber is also working with WeRide in Abu Dhabi.

While autonomous taxis are becoming more prevalent, Uber’s commitment is noteworthy given its status as the largest ride-hailing service worldwide, operating across 15,000 cities in over 70 countries.

Waymo, owned by Alphabet (Google’s parent company), has been testing its autonomous taxi services for years, currently available in cities like Phoenix, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Atlanta, and Austin. This month, Waymo indicated plans to expand into London next year.

Interestingly, Uber is collaborating with Waymo to develop autonomous taxis in Phoenix, Austin, and Atlanta.