Uber, Nuro, and Lucid Launch Robotaxi Program in Houston
Uber Technologies (UBER), Nuro and Lucid Group (LCID) announced Houston as the second planned market for their robotaxi program, following the San Francisco Bay Area launch later this year. The companies expect to launch the service in Houston in mid-2027 exclusively through the Uber network, with plans to expand the service to dozens of additional markets over the coming years. Nuro is already conducting autonomous on-road testing with safety operators in Houston, marking an important step toward the program's future commercial deployment in the city. The company is leading autonomous driving development and validation for the program through a measured approach that includes simulation, closed-course testing, and supervised public-road testing. The robotaxi engineering fleet supporting this work includes nearly 100 vehicles across California and Texas, with operations running 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The test fleet is expected to expand further in the coming weeks as Lucid manufactures the first production validation robotaxis at its Arizona factory, which will also be used for safety testing and homologation. It was also announced that Uber has secured a 50,000-square-foot depot facility and dedicated charging pitstop in Houston. The facilities will serve as the operational backbone for Uber's autonomous robotaxi program-supporting a fleet of Lucid Gravity robotaxis powered by Nuro's autonomous technology-and will enable Uber and its fleet partners to manage charging, maintenance, repairs, cleaning, and other day-to-day fleet operations at scale.
