Uber to deploy 20,000 self-driving taxis in $300m Lucid deal

Uber has announced plans to launch a fleet of 20,000 self -driving taxis after it caused dealing with a 300 million dollar teacher (224 million pounds) with Lucid More electric cars, which represents a great leap forward in its independent ambitions in the ride.

The passenger participation giant will start publishing clear SUVs-equipped with self-driving technology developed by the Noro-Noro-next year. Vehicles will be presented gradually for six years, starting from a major American city in 2025.

As part of the partnership, Uber will also take a $ 300 million share share in Lucid, making it the second largest shareholder in EV manufacturer after the sovereign wealth fund in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Uber also invests hundreds of millions of dollars in Noro to strengthen the self -driving technology pipeline.

The CEO of Uber Dara Khusraoshi said that the program has the ability to reshape urban movement.

“Independent vehicles have huge potential to transform our cities for the better,” he said.
“We are happy to partner with Nuro and Lucid in the new Robotaxi program, which was built for this purpose only for the Uber platform, to bring independent driving magic to more people around the world.”

The deal highlights Uber’s continuous strategy for partnership with independent vehicle technology, instead of building, in a clear departure from the approach during the era of former CEO Travis Kalnik.

In recent years, Uber has created partnerships with companies including Waymo and Volkswagen, and recently Baidu in China, with which it concluded a deal to spread robots across parts of Asia and the Middle East.

Uber already runs self -driving taxis in the chosen US cities and is working closely with organizers and infrastructure partners to expand services more.

However, competition in space is condensed. Tesla launched its Robotaxi service in Austin, Texas last month, with the Elon Musk pledged to expand in Los Angeles and San Francisco, despite the US organizational investigation into its full self-control program (FSD) after a series of accidents-including deaths.

Uber Deal also provides a time batch for Lucid, which was resigned by co -founder and CEO Peter Rolinson last year after highly declining financial losses. The new CEO Marc Winterhoff pledged to double the production of the company’s leading Gravity Suv – which is $ 95,000 (70,000 pounds) – as part of a broader transformation plan.

The Uber Agreement has sent Lucid to 25 %, as investor reaction was positively to support one of the world’s largest mobility platforms.

Uber also confirmed that he is still ready to provide independent vehicles in the UK but is awaiting organizational approval. While the former UK government expects self -driving cars to reach British roads by 2026, the new work administration said this is unlikely to happen before the second half of 2027.

This step is Uber as a global race candidate for a widely driving technology marketing. It also emphasizes the company pushing the self -move through strategic investments instead of expensive research and internal development.

With two main players such as Alphabet (Waymo) and Amazon (Zoox) who pour billions of dollars in space, a multi -tape Uber approach can provide a faster and more flexible road in the market.

The deployment of 20,000 independent cars via the Uber network over the next six years can reshape not only a passenger ride experience-but also the competitive dynamics of the entire transportation sector.