The Uber Transportation application announced Thursday that it will buy $ 300 million in shares of the US electric car manufacturer Lucid Motors, with the ambition to create its own robotaxis fleet.
The emergence of the autonomous taxis market attracts many investors such as Waymo, the Google subsidiary that for now is the best positioned in the United States.
At the end of June, Tesla launched its first autonomous taxis service in Austin, state of Texas, in a restricted perimeter and with a very small fleet.
On his side, Uber reached an agreement with Waymo and offers a driver -free vehicle service in Atlanta, Georgia, and Austin.
But the agreement announced this Thursday undoubtedly represents a step further, with Uber acquiring a shareholding in Lucid Motors, which with current prices equals about 3% of its capital.
The commitment to driverless cars
The announcement promoted Lucid shares almost 30% on Wall Street.
As part of the agreement, Uber undertakes to acquire a minimum of 20,000 autonomous cars, based on the SUV Lucid Gravity model, in the following six years after the beginning of its manufacture, in the second semester of 2026.
These vehicles will be developed specifically for Uber, in collaboration with Nuro, a start-up specialized in autonomous cars.
Uber will also invest in Nuro, according to a statement published Thursday, and plans to deploy its new autonomous units in a “great American city” by the end of next year.
Lucid and Nuro already perform tests of the Robotaxi prototype in a closed circuit in Las Vegas.
