Uber companions with Nuro, invests $300M in Lucid to launch upscale robotaxi service

Uber is investing a whole bunch of tens of millions of {dollars} into EV maker Lucid and autonomous automobile know-how startup Nuro in a bid to launch its personal premium robotaxi service.

Underneath the deal introduced on Thursday, Uber will make investments $300 million in Lucid and individually purchase “at the least” 20,000 of the EV maker’s new Gravity SUV over the following six years. These EVs shall be geared up with Nuro’s autonomous automobile system, and the autos shall be owned and operated by Uber or its third-party fleet companions. Uber plans to launch a robotaxi service in a serious U.S. metropolis subsequent 12 months.

Uber can be investing an undisclosed “multi-hundred-million greenback” quantity into Nuro. One supply aware of the settlement stated the quantity is greater than Uber’s funding in Lucid. 

The settlement between the three firms was a 12 months within the making, Nuro co-founder and president Dave Ferguson advised TechCrunch.

“I believe that’s most likely a mirrored image of how meaty it’s,” he stated, including that Uber was trying to make a really giant dedication to a robotaxi program, and frolicked with nearly each AV firm to search out essentially the most appropriate companion.

“We have been thrilled that, on the finish of all that, we have been the companion that was chosen.”

Ferguson stated engineers at Lucid and Nuro have already made progress on the mission. The businesses have been testing a prototype driverless automobile on a closed monitor at Nuro’s proving grounds in Las Vegas.

Uber has spent the previous two years locking in partnerships with autonomous automobile know-how firms, overlaying the spectrum of how self-driving methods will be utilized to the bodily world. The ride-hailing large has partnered with greater than 18 firms globally, throughout ride-hailing, supply, and trucking. Simply this 12 months alone, it introduced offers with Ann Arbor, Michigan-based Could Mobility Volkswagen, in addition to Chinese language self-driving companies Momenta, WeRide, and Baidu.

Uber’s most high-profile partnership within the U.S. — and one that’s commercially working as we speak — is with Waymo. The businesses provide a “Waymo on Uber” service in Austin and Atlanta.

This deal illustrates simply how a lot cash Uber is keen to spend money on hopes of tapping into, and even dominating, the burgeoning autonomous automobile market.