Uber’s Not Done With Self-Driving Cars Just Yet. It’s Designing a New Robotaxi With Lucid and Nuro

Uber is using CES to tell the world that it’s still chasing the self-driving car dream. In Las Vegas on Monday, the ride-hailing company announced that it was developing a driverless robotaxi prototype with EV maker Lucid and autonomous vehicle company Nuro.

While not as futuristic as Tesla’s Cybercab concept or Amazon’s Zoox, which has no steering wheel, the still unnamed Uber-designed version of Lucid’s Gravity EV is expected to arrive in the San Francisco Bay Area at some point this year. It’ll join Waymo and Zoox robotaxis already on the road there. The companies said that on-road testing started at the end of last year, which isn’t surprising as Nuro already holds driverless testing permits through the California DMV. In fact, Nuro-branded autonomous vehicles started popping up on San Francisco streets last month.

Eventually, the trio plan to offer the Level 4 robotaxi prototype everywhere Uber has a presence — if all goes well, that is.

Monday’s big announcement provided us with the first look at what the prototype, which at its core is a repurposed Lucid Gravity, could look like. At first glance, the prototype takes advantage of Nuro’s autonomous last-mile delivery know-how and Nvidia’s Drive Hyperion platform for real-time AI processing.

The passenger experience is indeed a combination of all the companies involved in this robotaxi project. Inside it looks like the Gravity, which seats up to six adults and has a large hatchback trunk for luggage, but has some robotaxi hallmarks like touchscreens, which allow you to customize the ride and control the interior climate, activate heated seats, and set music choices. In terms of support, the car features an autonomous vehicle customer support button and emergency stop setting.

In addition, the screens show passengers what the robotaxi sees on the road—similar to the way Waymo shows pedestrians, traffic signals, and other cars—all in real-time.

Less noticeable is the prototype’s sensor suite, which includes high-res cameras, solid-state LiDAR sensors, and radars. The sensors are built into the Gravity exterior and more visible on the roof, where it looks like a roof rack is riding on top of the Gravity.

Lights on this roof rack sensor unit will light up with different colors, display passenger initials (just like Waymo), and provide status updates, the companies said.

Missing from the announcement was more information about how customers could hail one of these robotaxis or get access to the cars once they start production. If I had to bet, I imagine that everything will be tied into the existing Uber app. 

The robotaxi prototype is expected to be built at Lucid’s Arizona factory at some point later this year. Of course, it’ll have to pass autonomous validation benchmarks first before being deployed.

With Monday’s announcement, Uber’s efforts (and notorious failures) to take on autonomous driving on its own are officially gone. 

If anyone wants to check out the self-driving Gravity taxi, it’s on public display at the Nvidia showcase at the Fontainebleau Hotel in Las Vegas through Thursday. 

Gizmodo is on the ground in Las Vegas all week bringing you everything you need to know about the tech unveiled at CES 2026. You can follow our CES live blog here and find all our coverage here.