Shares in electric vehicle maker Lucid (LCID) charged higher today after Uber Technologies (UBER) pledged to invest $300 million in a robotaxi deal.
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Dozens of Markets
The agreement which will start in late 2026 and last for 6 years will see Uber buying and deploying over 20,000 Lucid Gravity SUVs. They will be equipped with autonomous vehicle technology from startup Nuro. The aim is to start in one major U.S. city, but then roll out to “dozens of markets” around the world.
The vehicles will be owned and operated by Uber or its third-party fleet partners and made available to riders exclusively via the Uber platform. The first Lucid-Nuro robotaxi prototype is already operating autonomously on a closed circuit at Nuro’s Las Vegas proving grounds.
Uber said that the longer 450-mile estimated range of the Lucid Gravity would mean less frequent downtime for charging, minimizing costs and maximizing vehicle availability.
“This investment from Uber further validates Lucid’s fully redundant zonal architecture and highly capable platform as ideal for autonomous vehicles, and our industry-leading range and spacious well-appointed interiors, as ideal for ridesharing,” said Marc Winterhoff, Interim CEO at Lucid. “This is the start of our path to extend our innovation and technology leadership into this multi-trillion-dollar market.”
Indeed, it promises to be a huge boost the company whose stock price has suffered this year with lower than expected deliveries and the departure of CEO Peter Rawlinson.
Uber Push
Uber said it would invest hundreds of millions of dollars in Lucid and Nuro.
The move is another example of Uber’s renewed push into the robotaxi space after exiting in 2020. Since then, it has pivoted to partnerships with several technology developers, including Alphabet (GOOGL)-owned Waymo and Aurora.
It also signed a robotaxi agreement in April with Volkswagen (VWAGY) that will supply its ID.Buzz vans for commercial service planned for Los Angeles next year.
Other rivals include Tesla (TSLA), which recently launched a robotaxi trial in Texas.
Uber will be hoping to boost its platform numbers which have been relatively static over the last few years.
Is LCID a Good Stock to Buy Now?
On TipRanks, LCID has a Hold consensus based on 1 Buy, 8 Hold and 1 Sell ratings. Its highest price target is $5. LCID stock’s consensus price target is $2.70 implying a 13.88% downside.
