EVwire brief: Uber, Nuro, and Lucid have picked Houston as the second city for their robotaxi program, with rides planned to reach the public in mid-2027 through the Uber app.
The choice follows the trio's first market, the San Francisco Bay Area, which is set to launch later this year.
Nuro is already running autonomous test cars with safety operators on Houston roads, and Uber has secured a 50,000-square-foot depot plus a dedicated charging pitstop to keep the planned fleet of Lucid Gravity robotaxis fueled, cleaned, and maintained.
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“Houston marks an important next step in our partnership with Lucid and Nuro as we expand autonomous mobility to more riders throughout the world.”
The three companies set up the program back in July 2025, when Uber committed to put at least 20,000 Lucid vehicles on the road. That global goal has grown since: the partners now point to a minimum of 35,000 robotaxis across dozens of markets in the years ahead.
Context:
Nuro is steering the driving technology and its validation, working through simulation, closed-course runs, and supervised testing on public roads. Its engineering fleet numbers close to 100 cars spread across California and Texas, and runs 24 hours a day.
Houston earns its spot on the merits, the companies noted. The fourth-largest city in the country brings scale, a wide mix of trip types, and what the partners describe as a clear regulatory framework. Nuro also has roots there, having operated in the city since 2019 and run Level 4 vehicles on its public roads.
Houston will be the second city where Uber, Nuro, and Lucid will operate their robotaxi program
“Houston is a city Nuro knows well, and we’re excited to help bring this robotaxi service to the city through our partnership with Uber and Lucid. Houston's large, complex metro area is an ideal market for demonstrating how Nuro's universal autonomy platform can generalize across different geographies and operating environments.”
The service will run on the Lucid Gravity, with a future Lucid Midsize model planned to join it, both carrying the Nuro Driver and a redundant sensor suite of cameras, lidar, radar, and a roof-mounted halo. Uber is shaping the in-cabin experience while Nuro supplies the autonomy visualization. The cars stay owned and operated by Uber and its fleet partners, and riders reach them only through the Uber app.
Source: Lucid Group
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