Uber set to offer autonomous taxi rides in San Francisco Bay Area in 2026
By Tim Fang
Uber announced Wednesday that it plans to launch autonomous taxi service in the San Francisco Bay Area next year.
The ride-hailing giant said in a statement the region would be the first market for its purpose-built robotaxi, which is a collaboration between EV-maker Lucid Motors and self-driving technology firm Nuro. Vehicles, which would be owned by Uber or its partners, are based on the Lucid Gravity SUV.
Uber said on-road development in the Bay Area has already begun, with Nuro and Lucid planning to have 100 robotaxis in its Engineering Test Fleet in the coming months.
Service is expected to launch in the Bay Area “later next year,” the company said, but a specific date has not been announced.
Uber plans to deploy at least 20,000 of its self-driving robotaxis with Lucid and Nuro in the next six years in all markets.
The company has other partnerships in the field of self-driving vehicles.
Earlier this week, the company has also announced a partnership with automaker Stellantis and chipmaker Nvidia for 5,000 autonomous vehicles for robotaxi operations in the U.S. and internationally. Uber has also launched robotaxi service in Saudi Arabia with the company WeRide.
Uber would join Waymo in providing autonomous robotaxi service in the Bay Area. Waymo currently offers service in San Francisco, parts of the Peninsula and Silicon Valley, with service to San Francisco International Airport and San Jose Mineta International Airport set to begin in the next few months.
Owned by Google parent company Alphabet, Waymo also offers service in several other U.S. cities and is currently testing its service in New York City.
