Uber’s Journey in Autonomous Vehicles

Uber’s foray into the autonomous vehicle (AV) market has been a long and winding road. Initially, the company developed and tested its own AV technology under the leadership of Travis Kalanick, who created Uber Advanced Technologies Group (ATG) in 2014. This marked the beginning of Uber’s AV journey, with the company recruiting dozens of researchers from Carnegie Mellon University’s robotics program.

Source: techcrunch.com

In 2016, Uber acquired Otto, a self-driving truck company founded by former Google self-driving engineer Anthony Levandowski, Lior Ron, Don Burnette, and Claire Delaunay. The company also began testing its AVs on public streets in California, Pittsburgh, and Arizona. However, progress was hindered by a series of setbacks, including a trade secrets lawsuit against Uber by Waymo, the resignation of Kalanick in 2017, and a fatal crash in Tempe, Arizona, in 2018.

Source: techcrunch.com

After Dara Khosrowshahi took the helm at Uber, the company underwent a significant reset. In 2020, Uber walked away from its moonshot projects, including AVs, to focus on its core businesses of ride-hailing and delivery using human-driven vehicles. The company sold Uber ATG to Aurora, Jump to Lime, and Elevate to Joby Aviation but retained equity stakes in all of them.

Source: techcrunch.com

However, in 2022, Uber started making AV deals again, with a flurry of partnerships and investments in the following years. Today, the company is at the forefront of the AV revolution, working with over 30 companies to develop and deploy autonomous vehicles.

Partnerships and Investments

Uber’s AV empire is built on a foundation of strategic partnerships and investments. The company has partnered with Aurora, Avomo, Autobrains, Avride, Baidu, Cartken, Flytrex, GM’s Cruise, Hertz, and Lucid Motors, among others. Each of these partnerships brings unique capabilities and expertise to the table, enabling Uber to develop and deploy a wide range of AV solutions.

One of the most significant partnerships is with Aurora, which Uber sold its ATG unit to in 2020. The two companies have a long-term collaboration agreement, with Uber owning 325.97 million Aurora Class A shares, representing a 19.7% Class A equity stake and 6.9% voting power. In June 2024, Uber Freight announced a multi-year collaboration with Aurora that expanded upon an existing pilot program. The companies said Aurora’s self-driving trucks had been completing roundtrip hauls between Dallas and Houston via the Uber Freight platform in May 2025.

Another key partnership is with Avomo, an autonomous fleet operator that Uber took a 30% stake in 2021. Avomo is responsible for managing fleet services such as vehicle cleaning, maintenance, inspections, charging, and depot operations for the Waymo-Uber partnership in Austin. The company also handles fleet operations for Uber as part of its robotaxi service agreement with WeRide in Madrid, announced in June 2026.

Uber has also partnered with Avride, a Yandex spinout now under parent company Nebius Group, to bring Avride’s sidewalk delivery robots and autonomous vehicles to both Uber’s delivery unit, Uber Eats, and Uber’s ride-hailing app. In February 2025, Uber shared in its fourth-quarter earnings that Uber Eats orders in Austin and Dallas were being delivered via autonomous sidewalk robots in partnership with Avride.

Furthermore, Uber has partnered with Baidu, a Chinese tech giant, to deploy thousands of Baidu’s Apollo Go autonomous vehicles on the Uber platform in multiple markets outside the U.S. and mainland China. The companies said those deployments were set to start in Asia and the Middle East later in 2025.

Uber has also partnered with Lucid Motors, an EV maker, to launch a premium robotaxi service using robotaxi-ready vehicles from Lucid. Initially, Uber said it would invest $300 million into Lucid and separately buy at least 20,000 of its Lucid Gravity SUVs over six years. The vehicles will be equipped with Nuro’s self-driving system.

These partnerships and investments demonstrate Uber’s commitment to revolutionizing the transportation industry with autonomous vehicles. As the company continues to push the boundaries of AV technology, it is likely to remain a leader in this rapidly evolving space.

• Uber’s AV empire is built on a foundation of strategic partnerships and investments.

• The company has partnered with over 30 companies to develop and deploy autonomous vehicles.

• Key partnerships include Aurora, Avomo, Autobrains, Avride, Baidu, Cartken, Flytrex, GM’s Cruise, Hertz, and Lucid Motors.

• Each of these partnerships brings unique capabilities and expertise to the table, enabling Uber to develop and deploy a wide range of AV solutions.

• The company’s commitment to revolutionizing the transportation industry with autonomous vehicles is evident in its partnerships and investments.