Uber already works with players like Waymo, Volkswagen, and Baidu in different markets. The Lucid partnership is set apart by Uber's significant financial investment, a sign that it sees meaningful strategic value.

Uber announced a partnership to deploy 20,00 or more robotaxis in a deal with Nuro and Lucid on Thursday. The companies are working together to equip Lucid electric vehicles with Nuro's autonomy driver system.

The robotaxi service is expected to launch in late 2026 in an unnamed "major US city," and Uber said that a prototype of an operational autonomous Lucid-Nuro vehicle is currently being tested on a closed circuit at a Nuro facility in Las Vegas.