Uber Drops $300M on Lucid in New Robotaxi Deal — Here’s What That Means

Uber is diving back into the robotaxi race — and it’s bringing Lucid and Nuro along for the ride.

The ride-hailing giant announced Thursday that it will invest a cool $300 million into electric vehicle maker Lucid as part of a major new deal to bring self-driving cars to U.S. streets. The plan? Start rolling out a fleet of autonomous Lucid Gravity SUVs in one major U.S. city by late next year — powered by Nuro’s driverless tech.

Over the next six years, Uber says it plans to buy and deploy more than 20,000 of Lucid’s new Gravity models, turning them into robotaxis packed with Nuro’s autonomous vehicle (AV) system. It’s a big bet, signaling a fresh push into the AV game after Uber pulled out of its own self-driving division in 2020.

Lucid confirmed the investment in a regulatory filing, and Wall Street took notice — shares of the EV company jumped nearly 40% by midday trading Thursday. That’s a welcome boost after a rough stretch; Lucid stock was down 24% this year before the news broke.

The partnership also includes additional funding for Nuro, although exact numbers haven’t been disclosed.

So what does this mean for Uber? The company has been aggressively rebuilding its AV strategy through partnerships, teaming up earlier this year with VW to bring ID.Buzz vans to Los Angeles in 2026. Now it’s doubling down with Lucid, hoping to carve out a bigger role in the long-promised future of self-driving transportation.

But as we’ve seen before, turning robotaxi dreams into reality is no easy task. High costs, complicated regulations, and safety concerns have sidelined major players — including GM’s Cruise, which had to hit the brakes on its AV program.

Still, others are pressing forward. Tesla recently launched a robotaxi pilot in Austin, Waymo is expanding fast, and Amazon’s Zoox is testing vehicles without steering wheels or pedals, aiming for a Vegas launch later this year.

With input from Al Jazeera