Uber

Six months after transitioning one of its rideshare options to promote more electric rides and offer a grant to riders who switch to an EV, Uber Technologies is expanding the program across the US and adding additional savings.

Rideshare behemoth Uber announced a massive new partnership with Rivian, in which it will invest over one billion dollars in the American automaker to deploy up to 50,000 all-electric robotaxis, beginning with the new R2 SUV.

Zoox and Uber Technologies have announced a strategic partnership to deploy Zoox’s purpose-built robotaxis on Uber’s rideshare network. This use of truly autonomous robotaxis will begin in one of Zoox’s existing footprints and another massive metropolitan area next year.

Six months after Uber announced a new business venture with Lucid Group and Nuro to deploy tens of thousands of self-driving Gravity SUVs, the three companies have unveiled their production-intent robotaxi design. The purpose-built Gravity robotaxi is on display at CES in Las Vegas this week, and we’ve learned on-road testing is already underway. View more in the videos below.

Just over a year after Uber announced a strategic partnership in the Middle East with autonomous vehicle specialist WeRide, the companies have officially begun offering the public robotaxi rides without a driver or safety operator present on board.

Three months after Uber, Lucid Motors, and Nuro announced a partnership that would enable Gravity SUV robotaxis, the rideshare network has shared where the public will first be able to hail one. Spoiler alert, it’s easy to guess if you give it half a thought.

Uber gets it. The rideshare behemoth has observed the upward trend of EV adoption across its database of customers and drivers and is helping to support that transition. Beginning today, the “Uber Green” ride option is now called “Uber Electric,” visible to all app users worldwide. To celebrate the transition, Uber is offering discounted rides for those opting for electric vehicles, and drivers may also qualify for a $4,000 grant.

Less than two weeks after completing its acquisition of aerial mobility business Blade, eVTOL air taxi developer Joby Aviation has expanded an ongoing partnership with Uber, Inc. to bring those flights to the popular rideshare app.

Autonomous driving technology specialist Nuro, Inc. has closed a Series E funding round totaling $203 million. Through its latest successful funding round, the company is now valued at $6 billion, and fresh investor NVIDIA joins existing tech companies like Uber.

Lucid Gravity Robotaxis? Yes, please! Uber Technologies, Lucid Group, and Nuro, Inc. announced an exciting new partnership this morning. The three will combine technologies to deliver the public a premium global robotaxi option on Uber’s platform. We should see the Lucid robotaxis roll out in their first major city next year.

Shortly after announcing a strategic partnership with May Mobility to offer robotaxi rides to customers in the US, Uber has secured a second driverless tech company amid plans to scale the technology to new regions. Following a new partnership with Momenta, Uber will also expand robotaxi rides to Europe.

Uber announced that it will offer self-driving rides powered by May Mobility on its app in Texas later this year.

The ride-hailing platform will have both Waymo and May Mobility on its platform in Texas, while Tesla plans to compete with them all in Austin soon.

VW’s US self-driving arm, Volkswagen ADMT (Autonomous Driving Mobility & Transport), is partnering with Uber to roll out thousands of autonomous ID. Buzz vans across the US over the next decade.

Starting today, the fully autonomous Waymo One ride service is available exclusively to customers in Austin, Texas through the Uber app. Today’s news builds upon Waymo’s existing partnership with Uber and is a milestone in the robotaxi startup’s expansion to new cities around the US.

After getting a hefty $5.6 billion in fresh capital last week, Alphabet’s autonomous driving unit Waymo is now reported to be valued at more than $45 billion.

To promote emissions-free rides in the UK, Uber has teamed up with Lotus to deploy a fleet of the latter’s Eletre Hyper EVs around London. Now through the end of November, London commuters can book a ride in an Eletre by selecting Uber Green in their app. Better yet, the rider who saves the most emissions will win free Uber Green rides for the next ten years.

Uber reports that half its riders in areas where it offers autonomous rides say “no, thank you” to the offer.

It highlights trust issues with self-driving technologies.

Tesla and Uber have launched an in-car integration of ridesharing navigation directly into its Tesla vehicles for Uber drivers.

Uber has snapped up Tesla’s former head of charging, Rebecca Tinucci, who was fired by Elon Musk, along with her entire team, a few months ago.

On today’s episode of Quick Charge, Tesla’s weird new cooler faces off against Rivian’s clever new camp kitchen, Uber’s CEO thinks Elon is underestimating the problem, and NIO shows off its new rival to the best-selling Tesla Model Y.

Uber Eats customers in Los Angeles may have their next Shake Shack order delivered to them via an autonomous robot. Autonomous sidewalk delivery company Serve Robotics has announced a new partnership with the fast-food chain and will deploy the robots around LA to hand off orders for Uber Eats.