SAN JOSE, July 18 — United States (US) ride-hailing company Uber on Thursday said it was planning to deploy at least 20,000 robotaxis over the next six years, German Press Agency (dpa) reported.
The company said the fleet would be made up of SUVs by US electric vehicle manufacturer Lucid and equipped with self-driving technology developed by startup Nuro.
“The vehicles will be owned and operated by Uber or its third-party fleet partners and made available to riders exclusively via the Uber platform,” the ride-hailing giant said in a statement.
A prototype is currently being tested in Las Vegas, Nevada. The company said that it would “first launch in a major US city next year.”
As part of the partnership, Uber is investing US$300 million in Tesla competitor, Lucid.
Uber has already demonstrated its ambition to become the leading platform for robotaxis, having signed deals with German car giant Volkswagen and Waymo, the self-driving car company owned by Google’s parent firm Alphabet.
In some US cities, Waymo self-driving cars are already available on the platform. Robotaxis from Volkswagen are also set to be added to the offering.
Earlier this week, Uber also announced a new partnership with Chinese self-driving car firm Momenta aimed at introducing autonomous services outside the US and China.
