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The robotaxi revolution appears to be heating up.
Elon Musk stated during Tesla’s (NASDAQ:TSLA) earnings conference call that the company aims to roll out its robotaxi service to reach “half the population of the U.S.” by the end of 2025. He added that the expansion is contingent upon obtaining regulatory approvals in key states like California, Nevada, Arizona, and Florida. Currently, Tesla’s (NASDAQ:TSLA) robotaxi fleet is only operational in a small, restricted area of Austin, Texas, and even there, vehicles require a Tesla (TSLA) employee or safety driver present.
Meanwhile, Lucid Group (NASDAQ:LCID), Nuro, and Uber Technologies (NYSE:UBER) have partnered to launch a next-generation robotaxi service that combines premium electric vehicles, proven self-driving technology, and Uber’s (NYSE:UBER) global ride-hailing platform.
Uber (UBER) plans to deploy 20,000 or more Lucid (NASDAQ:LCID) vehicles equipped with Nuro’s self-driving system over six years, making the program one of the largest robotaxi deals announced to date. The vehicles will be owned and operated by Uber (UBER) or its third-party fleet partners. The range of the base model will be approximately 450 miles per charge. The Nuro Driver advanced autonomous driving system will enable Level 4 self-driving. Nuro Driver has been highlighted by the companies as combining integrated hardware and AI-powered software to deliver safe, scalable, and highly reliable autonomy.
The autonomous robotaxi service will begin rolling out in a major U.S. city in 2026, with plans to expand to dozens of markets worldwide over the following six years.
“Nuro has spent nearly a decade building an AI-first autonomy system that’s safe, scalable, and vehicle-agnostic, proven through five years of driverless deployments across multiple U.S. cities and states. By combining our self-driving technology with Lucid’s advanced vehicle architecture and Uber’s global platform, we’re proud to enable a robotaxi service designed to reach millions of people around the world,” stated Nuro CEO Jiajun Zhu.
In Thursday afternoon trading, Tesla (TSLA) fell 8.8% and Lucid (LCID) shed 3.8%, while Uber (UBER) gained 2.2%.