Uber signs multibillion-dollar deal for 20,000 robotaxis and 5% stake in Lucid
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The news: Uber has signed a multibillion-dollar deal to buy its first robotaxi fleet from Lucid, committing to purchase at least 20,000 customised Gravity SUVs equipped with self-driving technology from Nuro.
The numbers: The ride-hailing company will invest USD300 million ($462.5 billion) in Lucid, giving it a 5% stake and making it the second-largest shareholder after the Saudi Public Investment Fund.
As part of the deal, Uber will also make an undisclosed but “significant” investment in Nuro, joining its USD6 billion Series E funding round, and take a board seat.
Based on the cost of the vehicles and the additional Nuro sensor kit, The Financial Times estimates the commitment is worth roughly USD2 billion.
The vehicles will be assembled at Lucid’s Arizona factory with Nuro’s technology integrated during production and are set to roll out over six years starting in 2026 in an unannounced major US city.
The context: Commercialising autonomous vehicles has proven harder than expected, with high costs, tight regulations and federal investigations forcing some operators to shut down, even as competition intensifies from deep-pocketed players like Tesla, Waymo and Amazon’s Zoox.
The deal is Uber’s largest robotaxi investment to date and part of its strategy shift from developing AV tech in-house to investing in specialist firms. The company had exited its AV unit in 2020 and now partners with Waymo, Volkswagen, Baidu and others.
Shares in Nasdaq-listed Lucid, which recorded nearly USD6 billion in net losses across 2023 and 2024, had lost about 95% of their value since 2021. On Thursday (Friday AEST), the stock rose as much as 47% following the announcement, the most ever intraday, as the partnership provides Lucid with both a high-profile customer and new capital.
Lucid’s largest shareholder, the Saudi Public Investment Fund, owns 58% of the company.
What they said: “Autonomous vehicles have enormous potential to transform our cities for the better,” Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi said in a joint statement.
“We’re thrilled to partner with Nuro and Lucid on this new robotaxi program, purpose-built just for the Uber platform, to safely bring the magic of autonomous driving to more people across the world.”
The sources: Uber Technologies, Bloomberg, Reuters
