Uber Technologies Inc. (NYSE:UBER) is quickly emerging as a major player in the Robotaxi and autonomous vehicle industry, with investments in both fleet expansions and equity acquisitions in Robotaxi companies. Here’s a look at Uber’s approach to the AV sector.
Uber’s $10 Billion Bet
We kick off with Uber’s reported $10 billion commitment to bolster its Robotaxi exploits. Off the $10 billion figure, Uber plans to allocate $2.5 billion in investments to acquire equity in Robotaxi operators, while the other $7.5 billion is aimed at expanding its Robotaxi fleet.
The fleet expansion would begin in 2027 and is targeting over 100,000 vehicles from multiple manufacturers and will incorporate NVIDIA Corp (NASDAQ:NVDA) tech, like the NVIDIA DRIVE platform.
Trillion-Dollar Market
Further illustrating aggressive expansion and bullish sentiments on self-driving, Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi shared that the sector represented a “trillion-dollar” total addressable market (TAM) during the company’s first-quarter 2026 earnings call with investors.
Khosrowshahi also shared that the ride-hailing giant would continue to “invest in AVs aggressively” with its “partnership model.” It’s worth noting that Uber launched Europe’s first Robotaxi service in Croatia’s Zagreb in partnership with Verne, a Robotaxi company owned by high-performance EV maker Rimac.
Partnerships With Brands
Partnerships have been an integral part of Uber’s business model, with the company forming strategic alliances with various enterprises across sectors. Uber has a partnership with Nvidia, as well as with Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) (NASDAQ:GOOG), to offer Waymo vehicles on its platform in Atlanta and Austin.
Uber is also partnering with Robotaxi operators like Baidu Inc.‘s (NASDAQ:BIDU) Apollo Go, as well as WeRide Inc. (NASDAQ:WRD), to offer Robotaxi rides in the Middle East, as well as in London, where it will begin testing this year with Apollo Go.
Uber also partnered with Nuro Inc. and Lucid Group Inc. (NASDAQ:LCID), with Nuro’s Lucid Gravity robotaxis set to carry out driverless Robotaxi testing in California.
Speaking of Lucid, Uber upped its investment in the automaker to $500 million and will now deploy 35,000 Lucid Robotaxis in the future, up from 20,000 Robotaxis it had initially planned. Uber is also partnering with Rivian Automotive Inc. (NASDAQ:RIVN) to offer its Robotaxis on its platform in the future.
Gary Black’s Uber Prediction
Investor Gary Black of The Future Fund LLC recently predicted that Uber could lead the global Robotaxi sector over the likes of Tesla Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) and Waymo due to what the investor termed “operational leverage.” The investor had outlined that a common “misconception” about Uber was that it was “just an app.”
Black pointed towards Uber’s massive user base, with over “200 million monthly active platform customers,” as well as “10 million active vehicles” in its fleet. The investor then said that once Uber began offering unsupervised Robotaxis on its platform at a comparable price to the likes of Waymo, with a 2-3 minute wait time, “there will be no reason to take a Waymo.”
Check out more of Benzinga’s Future Of Mobility coverage by following this link.
Photo courtesy: Cristi Croitoru via Shutterstock
Recent Comments