Uber has announced a partnership with Lucid under which the companies plan to deploy more than 20,000 robotaxis over the next six years. Autonomous vehicle startup Nuro will develop the self-driving technology that Lucid will use in its robotaxis, which will be “purpose-built just for the Uber platform,” as Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi told CNBC.

Nuro will provide a self-driving software system that will support Level 4 autonomy. As defined by SAE Levels of Driving Automation, vehicles with Level 4 technology can drive passengers under normal traffic and weather conditions without a human behind the wheel.

Testing for the first prototype vehicle is underway on a closed circuit at Nuro’s Las Vegas-based proving grounds. In April, the startup raised $106 million in a funding round.

As part of the agreement, Uber will invest $300 million in Lucid, and make “a multi-hundred-million-dollar investment” in Nuro.

“We’ve been chosen because of our EV technology leadership,” Lucid interim CEO Marc Winterhoff told CNBC.

The companies plan to launch the first of the robotaxis in “a major US urban hub” next year.

Uber has an existing alliance with Alphabet-backed Waymo, which also makes Level 4 autonomous vehicles. The two companies expanded their service to Atlanta and Austin, Texas, earlier this year.

Source: CNBC