- Under its partnership with autonomous vehicle startup Nuro and EV maker Lucid, Uber will introduce a premium robotaxi service in Houston.
- The service is expected to start in mid-2027.
- Uber has secured a 50,000-square-foot dedicated charging pitstop and depot facility in the city
Uber is set to introduce a premium robotaxi service next year under its partnership with autonomous vehicle startup Nuro and EV maker Lucid.
This will be the second US market for the companies' after the launch of their robotaxi service in the San Francisco Bay Area.
The firms expect to start the service in Houston in mid-2027 exclusively via the Uber network. There are plans to expand the service to several additional markets over the coming years.
Uber has also secured a 50,000-square-foot dedicated charging pitstop and depot facility in Houston to serve as the centre of its autonomous robotaxi program.
The facility will support a fleet of Lucid Gravity robotaxis that run on Nuro's autonomous technology. It will help Uber and its fleet partners manage day-to-day operations like charging, repairs, maintenance and cleaning at scale.
“Houston marks an important next step in our partnership with Lucid and Nuro as we expand autonomous mobility to more riders throughout the world,” Sarfraz Maredia, Uber's Global Head of Autonomous Mobility & Delivezy, said in a release.
He explained that the move combined Uber's scale, fleet operations expertise, and infrastructure capabilities with the best-in-class vehicle and autonomy technology “to build a service that can grow across dozens of markets in the years ahead.”
The ride-hailing giant's announcement means that Uber will compete with Alphabet-owned autonomous vehicle firm Waymo in both Houston and San Francisco, Tech Crunch reported.
Nuro has tested the Lucid Gravity SUVs that feature its self-driving system for months in San Francisco. It has made progress on that front, but the vehicles are still not driverless.
Nuro got a permit from the California Department of Motor Vehicles last month that would allow it to remove the safety driver from its taxis.
Uber and Nuro's combined engineering fleet of 100 autonomous vehicles is being tested on public roads in Houston as well, with safety operators behind the wheel.
Nuro is also validating its self-driving system using closed courses and simulation before opening the robotaxis to the public. The test fleet is expected to increase in the coming weeks as Lucid starts making the first production versions of the robotaxis at its factory in Arizona.
Uber has made direct investments of about $500 million in both Lucid and Nuro. It has also committed to buying at least 35,000 robotaxi-ready Lucid vehicles.
