The ride-sharing company Uber announced on the 17th (local time) that it has entered into a partnership to introduce more than 20,000 robo-taxis over the next six years.
This partnership includes electric vehicle manufacturer Lucid and autonomous driving startup Nuro, and under the agreement, Uber will invest $300 million (417.2 billion won) in Lucid. Nuro will develop autonomous driving technology to be applied to Lucid vehicles, which will allow Lucid to supply robo-taxis to Uber. Nuro will also receive investments worth hundreds of millions of dollars.
Uber and Lucid plan to launch robo-taxis in major U.S. cities starting next year. Dara Khosrowshahi, Uber's Chief Executive Officer (CEO), said in a statement, "I am very pleased to partner with Nuro and Lucid on this robo-taxi program, which has been specially designed to fit the Uber platform," adding, "We have been able to safely deliver the magic of autonomous driving technology to more people around the world."
Nuro is an autonomous driving technology startup that has received investments from Google and Japan's SoftBank Vision Fund, providing level 4 autonomous driving systems. This allows driving without a driver under typical road and weather conditions, and is classified as level 4 autonomous vehicles, including Waymo, which is evaluated as the most advanced in current robo-taxi technology. Lucid is expected to provide vehicles it develops in the future, including its self-developed "Gravity," capable of traveling 450 miles (about 724 km) on a single charge.
Uber has been expanding its robo-taxi services, having entered into a partnership with Google Waymo last September. The structure is for Uber to utilize the app platform of customers accumulated through its ride-sharing service, while Waymo uses it to provide robo-taxi services. Uber previously attempted to develop autonomous vehicle technology and acquired the autonomous truck startup Otto, but sold its autonomous vehicle division in 2020 due to legal issues.