Recently announced a partnership with China's BaiduReaching cooperationThe two companies plan to jointly deploy thousands of Baidu Apollo Go self-driving vehicles in multiple markets around the world, with the first deployment expected to be in China, and then in the Asia-Pacific region and the Middle East.Electric car maker Lucid and autonomous driving technology company Nuro, creating the next wave of global robotaxi services.
According to the plan, Uber will deploy at least 20000 Lucid Gravity SUV electric vehicles in the next six years, fully integrate Nuro's autonomous driving technology, and operate with Uber services as the only platform.
These self-driving taxis will be owned and operated by Uber or its third-party partners, with an expected rollout in the United States by the end of 2026. The initial cities where service will begin have not yet been announced. The first batch of prototypes are currently undergoing field testing at Nuro's closed testing ground in Las Vegas, primarily to verify the AI module's safety and the stability of its integrated hardware and software.
The Lucid Gravity, the vehicle used in this project, features a highly integrated technology platform, a redundant electronic control architecture, and a claimed range of up to 450 miles (724 kilometers). Nuro will be responsible for overall safety testing, including dozens of simulation and actual road test categories, to ensure that the vehicle can achieve Level 4 autonomous driving performance in various scenarios, meaning that it can complete driving tasks without human intervention in most cases.
Uber said that this cooperation is not just about deploying in a single city or car model, but also an important step in expanding its global self-driving plan. Earlier this year, Uber and Volkswagen and British AI company WayveCollaboration, plans to introduce driverless taxis into the UK market in 2026.WaymoThe cooperation has now been launched in Austin, Phoenix, Los Angeles and San Francisco in the United States, allowing Uber users to choose self-driving cars through services such as UberX and Comfort Electric.
In addition to North America and Europe, Uber recently partnered with Baidu in China to bring its Apollo Go self-driving platform to China and other non-US markets, further advancing its global deployment of self-driving taxis. This represents Uber's strategic alliances with technology and manufacturing partners around the world to accelerate the speed and scale of its global rollout of self-driving services.
