While traditional companies lay off employees to make room for AI, Uber, for its part, openly shows interest in a new type of driver for its business: the algorithm. This is confirmed by the announcement of a strategic partnership with Zoox, Amazon’s autonomous vehicle unit, to implement robotaxis on its platform.
WHAT UBER AND ZOOX WILL DO TOGETHER
The agreement foresees that Zoox’s robotaxis will become available through the Uber app: for passengers, this translates into the opportunity to be matched with a robotaxi from the Amazon-owned company currently licensed to operate in Las Vegas and Los Angeles. The partnership launch is scheduled for Nevada this summer and in the Californian city by mid-2027.
THE RACE FOR JAPANESE ROBOTAXIS
At the same time, the former American startup has concluded an agreement with the Japanese automaker Nissan Motor and the British startup Wayve for the development of robotaxis in a pilot program in Tokyo expected to start by the end of 2026.
The British startup is a rising star in autonomous driving, having just reached a valuation of 8.6 billion dollars thanks to a $1.2 billion Series D round led by Eclipse, Balderton, and SoftBank Vision Fund 2, with participation from Nvidia, Microsoft, Nissan, and, indeed, Uber, which has long bet on the project. However, Mercedes-Benz and Stellantis also took part in the capital increase, but it is unclear whether they intend to leverage their shares in the startup’s structure for ad hoc projects.
CHINESE COMPANIES ON BOARD TOO
Last autumn, Uber launched a robotaxi service in Abu Dhabi developed together with the Chinese autonomous vehicle company WeRide. It is classified as Level 4 autonomous driving, meaning the vehicle can operate without human intervention under specific conditions. The parties had already inaugurated similar rides in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
INTEREST IN CANADIAN AUTONOMOUS TRUCKS
Earlier this year, Waabi Innovation, a Canadian startup specializing in autonomous driving technology for trucks, secured $1 billion in new funding to accelerate its commercial expansion and make the leap into the robotaxi market thanks to an exclusive partnership with Uber.
UBER’S AUTONOMOUS DRIVING STRATEGIES
Uber, which made life difficult for taxi drivers with its debut, now seems intent on displacing drivers. The former startup has been chasing the dream of autonomous driving since 2015 but has made a significant pivot: not to build a proprietary fleet but to expand its app to those already offering such services.
In short, even though the global debut of robotaxis remains marked by many unknowns, many of which will depend on the moods of individual legislators, Uber is preparing for the new era that will be characterized – it seems – by the growing availability of driverless cars.
UBER SELLS DATA COLLECTED DURING PASSENGER SERVICE
But it doesn’t end there, because through the development of Uber Autonomous Solutions, the company intends to provide partners with dynamic geospatial data and mapping solutions collected from its own vehicles in 72 billion trips since 2010, now essential to serve as “driving school” for AI. The first vehicles to test the software will be the robotaxis resulting from another Uber partnership, this time with Lucid and Nuro.
