Uber plans to make “multi-hundred-million greenback investments” in each Nuro and Lucid as a part of a large new robotaxi deal that was simply introduced.
The three firms are linking as much as deploy “20,000 or extra” robotaxis within the US over the subsequent six years. The automobiles can be Lucid’s new Gravity SUV, outfitted with autonomous know-how developed by Nuro, and accessible solely on Uber’s app. The fleet can be owned by Uber or a third-party fleet administration associate and the primary automobiles will launch in as-yet-to-be-determined US metropolis in 2026.
“It is a very, very large deal,” Dave Ferguson, co-founder and president of Nuro, mentioned in an interview. “By way of the dimensions and the exhausting commitments and the meat behind it, it’s by far the largest partnership deal that Uber has introduced or completed.”
“It is a very, very large deal.”
Uber is investing $300 million in Lucid, a spokesperson for the automaker, Nick Twork, confirmed. The funding in Nuro can be “considerably greater than that,” Ferguson mentioned, although he declined to share a precise determine. As a part of the deal, Uber will sit on Nuro’s board of administrators.
Uber’s choice to pour a whole bunch of hundreds of thousands of {dollars} in each firms underscores its desire to become a clearinghouse for each electrical and autonomous automobiles of all stripes. The ridehail firm has mentioned it needs to make use of its dimension and scale to assist within the proliferation of autonomous automobiles internationally. It has struck over a dozen offers over the previous yr with quite a lot of robotaxi and supply robotic firms, including Waymo.
In selecting the sumptuously designed Gravity as its robotaxi platform, Uber will possible worth this explicit service within the higher tier like Uber Black. Lucid makes two luxurious EVs, the Lucid Air sedan which begins at $69,900, and the Gravity SUV which begins at $79,900. Within the present shaky EV market, Lucid is a distinct segment participant, delivering simply 3,309 automobiles within the second quarter of 2025. The corporate is majority-owned by Saudi Arabia’s Public Funding Fund, and it operates an meeting plant within the oil-rich nation.
That is Nuro’s first main licensing deal after pivoting away from designing and constructing its personal self-driving supply automobiles. The California-based firm said last year that licensing its autonomous tech can be its important focus transferring ahead. Nuro’s present fleet of automobiles, which operates in California and Texas, has traveled over 1 million miles autonomously with none main security incidents.
Uber’s funding comes at a vital time for Nuro and Lucid, each of which have struggled with layoffs and different financial difficulties lately. Donald Trump’s tariffs, in addition to his administration’s transfer to eradicate Biden-era EV incentives, have put monumental strain on the auto business. And self-driving vehicles have taken longer and proven more costly to develop than initially promised.
However at the same time as most AV investments have dried up, Nuro continues to seek out monetary assist. The corporate is at present valued at $6 billion after raising $106 million in its latest funding round final April. Lucid, which is publicly traded, has a market cap of roughly $7 billion.
Uber’s funding comes at a vital time for Nuro and Lucid.
Nuro will design the Degree 4 autonomous know-how to energy the robotaxis. Lucid’s staff will set up the varied sensors and {hardware} on the Gravity meeting line, after which it’ll be up to date with Nuro’s software program and commissioned by Uber. Nuro may also develop a security case “throughout dozens of classes” utilizing simulation, closed-course testing, and supervised on-road testing. A prototype autonomous Gravity is at present being examined at Nuro’s Las Vegas proving grounds, which Ferguson mentioned took seven weeks to develop.
“That could be a actual testomony to the standard of the engineering on the Lucid facet,” he mentioned. “They designed these platforms to be L3 succesful as a result of they had been intending on having that as a future product for his or her prospects. And so, they had been very nice to combine all of our sensing compute onto and to show into self-driving automobiles.”
(L3, or Degree 3 automation means the automobile can drive itself in most conditions, however nonetheless requires human supervision. Degree 4 automobiles can driver totally autonomously in sure environments with out human supervision. Lucid simply launched a hands-free driving system for highways.)
In some ways, the scale of this deal — “a minimal” of 20,000 automobiles, however anticipated to be “a lot, far more,” Ferguson mentioned — recalls some of the early promises from autonomous vehicle developers about tens of hundreds of automobiles on the street in just some brief years. These early assumptions turned out to be method off, and most firms are nonetheless struggling to ship even just some self-driving vehicles. In the present day, Waymo is operating less than 2,000 vehicles in a handful of markets as a part of a industrial robotaxi service. Tesla has a few dozen robotaxis in a small a part of Austin, Texas. The remainder are nonetheless in beta and nonetheless not open to the general public — together with the self-driving vans, which have had their own problems.
Ferguson mentioned that’s all about to alter. Nuro has been working driverless automobiles for a number of years now, albeit at low speeds and whereas avoiding highways. However he says the time is true to maneuver on to the subsequent stage, and with Uber and Lucid in its nook, he’s assured they’ll attain these milestones.
“It’s actually only a operate of, at what stage is the autonomy at and what number of markets can it maintain,” Ferguson mentioned. “Inside these markets, these are large, large numbers and alternatives. And the automobiles will comply with.