Uber on Monday announced Uber Autonomous Solutions, a new business unit that combines the ride-hailing giant’s operational capabilities into a suite of services for autonomous vehicle developers.
The unit consolidates offerings across three areas — physical and digital infrastructure, rider experience, and fleet operations — that Uber says are designed to help AV partners deploy and scale autonomous services more efficiently than they could on their own.
The company announced in July last year that it was investing in both the AV startup Nuro and the Saudi-backed EV maker Lucid Motors while creating a Uber–Lucid-Nuro robotaxi.
Uber‘s CEO Dara Khosrowshahi framed the newly formed unit as an extension of the competencies Uber has built over more than a decade of on-demand mobility. “With Uber Autonomous Solutions, we’re externalizing these hard-won competencies for our partners,” he said.
What Uber Is Offering
On the infrastructure side, Uber is offering AV developers access to training data collected by thousands of specially equipped vehicles across dozens of cities in the United States and Europe.
The company said it has captured millions of miles of multi-sensor data, building on a partnership with Nvidia through what it calls its Data Factory.
Uber is also providing mapping data informed by tens of billions of trips worldwide, regulatory support in new markets, and fleet financing to help partners bring vehicles to the road faster.
For rider experience, Uber has developed an in-car software interface designed specifically for autonomous vehicles, giving passengers control over sound, temperature, and rider assistance.
The company said the Nuro-Lucid–Uber robotaxi, expected to launch later this year, will be the first autonomous vehicle to feature this interface on its in-car tablets.
Uber is also working on shared autonomous rides, building on its UberX Share product, and said it will launch a shared AV service with Volkswagen in Los Angeles later this year.
On fleet operations, Uber built what it calls AV Mission Control — a real-time fleet management system that aggregates telemetry and status indicators from every vehicle into a single dashboard.
The system includes remote assistance capabilities for when autonomous vehicles encounter issues on the road, field support teams that handle towing, cleaning, lost items, and alternate ride dispatch, and a bespoke insurance program that covers manufacturers, software providers, fleet managers, and other participants under a single policy.
Sarfraz Maredia, Uber‘s global head of autonomous mobility and delivery, said the unit is designed to let AV developers focus on building autonomous driving software rather than solving operational problems.
“When partners plug into Uber‘s network, they can scale more efficiently, operate more reliably, and move faster,” he said.
$100 Million Charging Push
The announcement follows Uber‘s commitment last week of more than $100 million to develop autonomous vehicle charging hubs across the United States, its largest known infrastructure investment tied to autonomous operations.
The fast-charging stations will initially be built in the San Francisco Bay Area, Los Angeles, and Dallas — the same cities where Uber plans to launch public robotaxi services with technology partners to compete with Alphabet’s Waymo.
The rollout is expected to extend to additional cities.
The hubs will be located at Uber‘s autonomous depots, where the company manages day-to-day fleet operations including cleaning, maintenance, and inspections, as well as at pit stops throughout priority cities.
Lucid, Nuro, and VW
The Bay Area charging infrastructure will support the deployment of Lucid Gravity SUVs equipped with Nuro’s autonomous driving system, which Uber plans to launch as robotaxis exclusively through its app later this year.
Last July, Uber announced a $300 million investment in Lucid and a separate agreement to purchase at least 20,000 Gravity SUVs over six years for its robotaxi fleet. Lucid confirmed the deal closed in September.
A Lucid Gravity equipped with Nuro’s autonomous system was recently spotted on public roads in Santa Clara, California, marking the vehicle’s first public sighting in traffic.
In Los Angeles, Uber plans to launch Volkswagen’s autonomous vans on its platform this year. Uber said it will also offer shared autonomous rides through the VW partnership, the first announced shared AV product between the two companies.
