Lucid Motors’ interim Chief Executive Officer Marc Winterhoff addressed on Tuesday the company’s bet in the robotaxi sector.
The EV manufacturer hosted last week its inaugural Investor Day in New York, during which it unveiled a two-seat dedicated robotaxi concept named Lunar.
The company also announced an expansion of its robotaxi partnership with Uber, as it introduced the first two models under its mid-size platform — with the first to begin production later this year in Saudi Arabia.
Speaking at Bank of America’s 2026 Global Automotive Summit — alongside Chief Financial Officer Taoufiq Boussaid — Winterhoff stated that the company plans to take a good share of the robotaxi market, which it views as a “second leg” of its business.
“We also showed last week that we’re already thinking beyond this, what comes after the midsize, which will still be, you know, a vehicle where you would have this tiara on top of the roof,” the interim CEO stated.
Andrew Macdonald, Uber‘s President and Chief Operating Officer, said that the ride-hailing giant is finalising an agreement to deploy Lucid’s upcoming midsize platform as a robotaxi at volumes comparable to the 20,000 Gravity SUVs already under contract.
With the mention of the tiara, Winterhoff is referring to the integration of Nuro’s autonomous driving software in the Lucid vehicles delivered to Uber.
“But then after that, we’re already working on a concept, which is a two-seater robotaxi, which is really a purpose-built vehicle for robotaxi applications,” he added. “There will not be any tiara on top.”
Lunar Concept
Lucid‘s two-seater robotaxi concept is based on the mid-size platform and the company claims it would achieve 5.5 to 6.0 miles per kilowatt-hour, reducing operating costs by 40% compared with current robotaxi fleets.
Winterhoff reiterated the idea on Tuesday, highlighting the upcoming model’s “very high efficiency.”
“That’s an important topic, because of the operation costs that are going down, and it is really from their design and from the use of the space, very much focused on what is the best way of doing it for that application,” he noted.
The Chief Executive also dismissed comparisons to Tesla‘s Cybercab model — for which full production is scheduled to begin next month — citing usage data from Uber‘s ride-hailing services.
“You might ask, ‘why a two seater?’ It’s not big,” Winterhoff stated. “It’s not because Tesla did it, but there’s actually over 80% — way over 80% — of the rides, either with one person or with two people, when you look at the Uber network.”
A two-seater, purpose-built vehicle where “you can make it smaller, lighter, therefore more efficient, increase the uptime, and all these kinds of things,” will allow Lucid to enter a “much bigger market,” the CEO added.
“And so, yeah, I think this is going to be an important driver for our business going forward,” he concluded.
CFO Comments
Earlier this week, the company’s CFO Taoufiq Boussaid was questioned about the string of revenue from the Robotaxi deal with Uber and Nuro for Lucid.
Boussaid admitted that it is “the gold standard in this kind of business to secure recurring revenues,” with this being “how you spread the risk over time and this is how you give confidence on the validity of the business case.”
On the other side, Lucid‘s CFO highlighted that its approach means they “are also staying away from whatever is associated with the capital-intensive business.”
The company’s management highlighted last week that this deal only made sense for Lucid because the first 20,000 units were “not the limit.”
At the same time, Boussaid doesn’t think the EV maker “will ever have a model where we own the assets and we generate revenue out of it,” he added.
Despite having introduced the Lunar concept model last week, the company has not yet outlined what its operations would look like.
Mid-size Platform
Lucid outlined ambitious financial and operational targets, including plans to deploy 100,000 vehicles by 2028 and to achieve profitability later in the decade — which hinges on the scale of the upcoming mid-size platform.
One of the most anticipated standouts of its Investor Day was the company’s long-awaited details on the first mid-size SUV — which Lucid revealed will be named Cosmos.
The Cosmos at under $50,000 in late 2026 would be its cheapest product ever, compared to the Air sedan (which starts above $70,000) and the more recent Gravity SUV (priced at nearly $80,000 for the entry-level trim).
Lucid will produce the Cosmos — and the following Earth — models in its second manufacturing facility, located in the King Abdullah Economic City (KAEC) near Jeddah, in Saudi Arabia.
The Saudi facility previously only assembled semi-knockdown kits (SKD).
Earlier this year, the interim CEO said the project is “on schedule,” a claim the President of Middle East Faisal Sultan echoed a few days later.
Winterhoff clarified in February’s earnings call that the number of mid-size units produced in 2026 will not be meaningful to the company’s target of 25,000 to 27,000 units.
The Chief Executive said during Cantor’s conference that Lucid expects the “vast majority” of its 2026 output to be the Gravity SUV, with Air sedan deliveries remaining “flat.”
According to the company’s CFO, production of the mid-size platform in Saudi Arabia will allow Lucid to offset tariff costs on China-made parts.
