Uber to launch autonomous taxi rides in San Francisco next year

Uber said Wednesday that the San Francisco Bay Area will be the first market for its specially built autonomous taxi, which is expected to launch in late 2026.

The San Francisco ride-hailing company said in July it was developing a robotaxi with the electric car company Lucid and the self-driving technology company Nuro Inc. The vehicle is exclusive to Uber but is based on the Lucid Gravity SUV.

Uber said Lucid recently delivered test vehicles to Nuro and said it plans to have 100 test vehicles on the road in the coming months.

Within six years, Uber plans to deploy 20,000 or more Lucid-based autonomous taxis in multiple locations. The vehicles will be available to riders through the Uber app.

Uber is working with multiple companies to speed the deployment of autonomous taxis.

On Tuesday, Uber said it’s also developing robotaxis with the tech company Nvidia and the automaker Stellantis. Uber said Tuesday that in 2028, Stellantis expects to start production of at least 5,000 vehicles powered by Nvidia software for autonomous taxi operations in the U.S.

And last week, Uber said it has begun offering autonomous taxi rides in Saudi Arabia as part of a partnership with WeRide, a Chinese autonomous tech company. Uber also works with WeRide in Abu Dhabi.

Autonomous taxis aren’t new, but as the world’s largest ride-hailing service, Uber’s adoption of them is significant. Uber operates in 15,000 cities in more than 70 countries.

Waymo, which is owned by Google parent Alphabet, has been testing autonomous taxis for years. Those taxis are currently available in Phoenix, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Atlanta, and Austin. Waymo said earlier this month it plans to expand to London next year.

Uber is partnering with Waymo on autonomous taxis in Phoenix, Austin, and Atlanta.

—Dee-Ann Durbin, AP business writer