Uber to invest $300 million in EV maker Lucid, launch robotaxi service
Photo: Uber

American companies Lucid, Nuro and Uber announced on a strategic partnership to launch a robotic taxi service in the United States. It is scheduled to launch in 2026 in one of the American cities.

The first prototype of the Lucid-Nuro robotaxi is already being tested at a test site in Las Vegas.

As part of the deal, Lucid and Nuro will receive hundreds of millions of dollars in investment from Uber.

Lucid is expected to provide Uber with Gravity electric crossovers with a range of 450 miles (approximately 724 km), which will be equipped with Nuro's Level 4 autonomous control system. This level implies the ability of the car to move without driver intervention in normal road and weather conditions.

Over the next six years, the company plans to expand its fleet to 20,000 such vehicles.

For Lucid, it is about $300 million, according to separate documents filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), writes Reuters.

The news of the cooperation caused a sharp rise in Lucid's shares in over-the-counter trading in New York. The stock rose 45%, with gains of up to 62% during the main session.

The deal shows that interest in self-driving taxis and financing of such projects in the United States has increased again, the agency said.

Instead of developing technology internally, Uber now relies on strategic alliances with partners such as Waymo, Aurora, Volkswagen, and now Lucid and Nuro.