Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund is moving to align two of its most prominent US investments — ride-hailing platform Uber and electric vehicle maker Lucid Motors.
The Public Investment Fund (PIF), which manages more than $925bn in assets, last week saw two of its portfolio companies announce a joint robotaxi initiative with the privately held autonomous driving startup Nuro.
Under the agreement, Uber is set to deploy at least 20,000 Lucid Gravity SUVs equipped with autonomous driving technology from Nuro over the next six years.
The vehicles, which will be operated by Uber or its fleet partners, are expected to debut in a “major US city” in 2026.
The deal represents a rare convergence of two flagship investments.
In 2016, PIF invested $3.5 billion in Uber, then one of its first major overseas deals and a symbol of its newly launched Vision 2030 diversification strategy.
As of May, Uber remained the fund’s single largest US equity holding by market value, worth $5.31 billion for an unchanged stake of 72.84 million shares.
As of the end of March, PIF was the company’s third largest institutional shareholder only behind BlackRock and State Street.
Lucid, meanwhile, has become one of the fund’s most financially exposed bets.
PIF holds a 64% stake in the EV maker, equal to 1.77 billion shares. But after a steep decline in Lucid’s market value over the past year, the position was worth $4.29 billion, according to the latest SEC filing — down from more than $5.3bn at the end of 2024.
The new partnership gives Uber access to Lucid’s forthcoming SUV platform and will see the ride-hailing firm invest $300mn into the EV maker.
While the funding provides a modest injection of capital, it is less than Lucid’s cash burn in a single quarter, as highlighted by Wall Street analysts.
Lucid shares surged 45% on Thursday after the announcement, closing the session up 36%. The rally cooled on Friday, with shares down 2.6% to $3.04.
PIF has backed several initiatives, including the Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Company (EVIQ), a joint venture with state utility Saudi Electricity Company to install 5,000 charging stations across the kingdom.
PIF is also the majority owner of Ceer, Saudi Arabia’s first domestic EV brand, developed in partnership with BMW to manufacture sedans and SUVs for the Gulf region.
The Lucid–Uber tie-up follows Uber’s separate expansion with Chinese autonomous driving startup WeRide, targeting 15 global cities over five years — including European ones.
Lucid said the robotaxi fleet will be exclusive to the Uber platform.
The first prototype, developed in partnership with Nuro, is undergoing closed-circuit testing in Las Vegas.
The EV maker is expected to update its full-year production guidance — currently set at approximately 20,000 units — during its upcoming earnings call on August 5.
The deal has drawn mixed reactions from analysts.
BofA Securities’ John Murphy maintained an Underperform rating and a $1.00 price target, warning that the commercial implications of the partnership remain unclear.
Stephen Gengaro of Stifel, who holds a Neutral view with a $3.00 target, said the move offered long-term potential but questioned Lucid’s ability to monetise the programme given that Uber and its partners — not Lucid — will own the vehicles.
Morgan Stanley analyst Adam Jonas, who rates the stock Equalweight, said the partnership could serve as a springboard for future strategic opportunities.
Benchmark analyst Mickey Legg was more optimistic, raising his price target to $7.00 and maintaining a Buy rating. He called the deal a “clear strategic win” that provides capital, validation, and access to “two world-class partners.”
The announcement came a few minutes after the EV maker revealed plans to make a 1:10 reverse stock split, pending approval from shareholders in an upcoming special meeting.
