Lucid began manufacturing pre-production robotaxi vehicles for its program with Uber and Nuro at its Arizona factory in October, the company said on X on Wednesday.
Uber and Lucid signed their vehicle production agreement in July 2025, with the ride-hailing giant saying it agreed to buy a minimum of 20,000 vehicles over six years from the start of production in late 2026. The purchase commitment was later expanded to “at least 35,000 Lucid vehicles.”
“Our partnership with @nuro and @Uber has reached another milestone,” Lucid wrote on Wednesday. “Last month, our team in Arizona began manufacturing our pre-production robotaxi vehicles.”
“Leveraging our mature and scalable manufacturing process, these builds mark the next phase of the program’s journey and bring us another step closer to launch,” the company said.
The post came hours after Uber said the service’s commercial launch in the San Francisco Bay Area is now scheduled for the first quarter of 2027, after the three companies had said in June that it would launch “later this year.”
Lucid has not publicly confirmed the first-quarter 2027 timing that Uber disclosed and has not repeated the “late 2026” target on Wednesday’s post.
The Saudi-backed EV maker did not say how many pre-production vehicles it has built or plans to build. It also did not say how the pre-production builds relate to the production-validation Gravity vehicles it said in August it had begun delivering to Nuro.
Earlier Arizona Builds
The robotaxis are based on the Lucid Gravity SUV, fitted with Nuro’s self-driving system and a roof-mounted sensor module.
In its second-quarter results on August 4, Lucid said it had “begun delivering production-validation Lucid Gravity vehicles to Nuro,” and described the program as “a top priority.”
“Last month, we began delivering to Uber and Nuro production validation vehicles assembled at our facility in Coolidge, Arizona. This will be followed by regular vehicle production in Q4, which in turn will be followed by a launch in late 2026,” CEO Silvio Napoli said on the earnings call that day.
Wednesday’s post did not say whether regular production remains scheduled for the fourth quarter.
Nuro said on June 17 that its test fleet was expected to grow “as Lucid manufactures the first production validation robotaxis at its Arizona factory.” It said those vehicles would also be used for safety testing and homologation.
On October 21, Lucid said another shipment of robotaxis built in Arizona was headed to the Bay Area. It did not say how many vehicles the shipment included.
Production Targets
At CES in January, the three companies said that, “pending final validation, the production intent robotaxi is expected to start production at Lucid’s Arizona factory later this year.”
When Lucid signed its vehicle production agreement with Uber in July 2025, it said Uber and its fleet operators had agreed to buy a minimum of 20,000 Gravity Plus vehicles over six years from the start of production, which was “targeted to occur in late 2026,” according to a Form 8-K filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
The minimum is conditioned on Lucid meeting certain volume and other requirements, the filing said.
A second agreement, signed in April, covers at least 25,000 Lucid Midsize Plus robotaxis, with production of that model targeted for late 2028. Lucid’s second-quarter 10-Q said the two deals together amount to an Uber commitment of “at least 35,000 units.”
Uber’s New Timeline
“We expect to begin fully driverless testing with Nuro and Lucid this quarter, ahead of a commercial launch in the Bay Area in Q1 2027 that will operate fully driverless from day one,” Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi said in prepared remarks published with the company’s third-quarter results on Wednesday.
“Houston and additional cities will follow,” he said. The companies said in June that they expect to launch in Houston in mid-2027.
On the earnings call, Citi analyst Ron Josey asked how Uber’s fully driverless rollout would be split between markets. “Then next year, we expect to add Nuro in California and then in Houston as well in Texas, at least early on in 2027,” Khosrowshahi said.
Uber did not say which of the three companies made the decision or give a reason for the new timing.
Chief Financial Officer Balaji Krishnamurthy pointed to the remarks on X when a user asked whether the Bay Area launch was still planned for this year. “In the prepared remarks,” he replied.
Uber said it was on track for about 700 fully driverless vehicles on its platform by the end of this year and expects “over 2,000 fully driverless vehicles on Uber by the end of 2027.” It expects Zoox to launch on Uber in Las Vegas later this month, followed by Motional moving to fully driverless operations.
Nuro Meets Local Police
On Tuesday, Nuro said it had met with police departments in Mountain View, Palo Alto and Los Altos to prepare for the launch of the robotaxi program.
“We are proud and grateful to collaborate closely with our community to prepare for the launch of our robotaxi program with @Uber and @LucidMotors,” Nuro wrote on X.
Nuro said in May that it had received a California Public Utilities Commission permit to carry passengers in its robotaxis with a safety driver on board, building on a Department of Motor Vehicles driverless testing permit received in April.
Uber’s Stake in Lucid
Uber has invested $500 million in Lucid, Lucid said in April, after an Uber subsidiary bought a further $200 million of shares that month.
Uber owned about 9.6% of Lucid’s common stock as of June 30, according to Lucid’s second-quarter 10-Q.
Lucid shares closed at $3.37 on Wednesday, up 11.6% from Tuesday’s close of $3.02. The company is scheduled to report its third-quarter results on November 9, with a conference call at 5:30 p.m. ET.
