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Uber tests premium robotaxis
Uber began testing a premium robotaxi service in San Francisco in April 2026, using Lucid Air vehicles equipped with Nuro’s autonomous driving system.
“GM-backed robotaxi company Cruise will offer its autonomous vehicles on Uber's ride-booking platform starting in 2025”
The test starts with Uber employees as the first passengers, described as a required step before any commercial launch to the general public.
The San Francisco effort is positioned against Waymo’s scale, with the Ecosistema Startup article saying that in March 2026 Waymo had accumulated 500.000 weekly trips in its active markets.
The same article says the alliance’s official goal, announced in July 2025 and presented at CES2026, is to deploy more than 20.000 Lucid vehicles with Nuro’s system over six years in dozens of markets worldwide.
It adds that Uber will own the vehicles and that Uber also invested 300 millones de dólares in Lucid while committing to buy at least 20.000 units of the Gravity SUV.
Phoenix pilot ends quietly
Waymo automated vehicle rides are no longer available via the Uber app in Phoenix, Arizona, the companies confirmed on Monday.
Uber said Phoenix was its first pilot market with Waymo and that it was an intentionally limited deployment reaching just over a dozen vehicles dedicated to the program.
Waymo said in a statement that the Uber initiative was "a productive pilot that paved the way for future expansions and partnerships across the globe."
The Transport Topics article says the ride-hailing part of the Phoenix partnership ended last month after the companies completed hundreds of thousands of trips, and it adds that the food deliveries portion ended in May 2025.
It also states that Uber said it will announce a new program with another autonomous vehicle provider in Phoenix in the future but did not share additional details.
Competition and next moves
The end of the Phoenix integration comes as Uber and Waymo continue operating in other markets, with Waymo vehicles remaining available through Uber in Austin and Atlanta.
“Waymo ends partnership with Uber in Phoenix after three years The robotaxi breakup signals a broader shift from collaboration to competition in autonomous vehicles, with implications for Alphabet and Uber investors Waymo robotaxis are no longer available through Uber in Phoenix, ending a nearly three year partnership in the city”
Uber execs have pitched Uber as the crucial platform that robotaxi players will need, while the CNBC article says the ride-hailing giant has inked partnerships with every major autonomous vehicle developer, with the exception of Tesla.
In the same CNBC account, Tesla’s robotaxi service is described as operating with a very limited fleet of just 69 registered, automated vehicles in Texas today.
The Ecosistema Startup article frames Uber’s approach as building a vertical stack—Uber for distribution, Nuro for autonomous technology, and Lucid for premium hardware—while saying the autonomous system is provided by Nuro.
It names Nuro’s founders as Dave Ferguson and Jiajun Zhu, and says they are two exingenieros de Google who worked on the project precursor of Waymo.
