This is Uber’s new robotaxi from Lucid and Nuro

Uber, Lucid Motors, and Nuro will unveil a version of their collaborative robotaxi at the 2026 Consumer Electronics Show, and TechCrunch previewed the reveal.

It’s a car that’s been in the works for more than half a year now, as part of the deal Uber sold $300 million to Lucid and committed to buying 20,000 of the company’s EVs. On Monday, the company said that the robotaxi is already being tested on public roads ahead of a planned commercial operation in the San Francisco Bay Area later this year.

Based on the Lucid Gravity SUV, the robotaxi has high-resolution cameras, robust lidar sensors, and radar integrated into the body and a roof-mounted “halo”. The standalone package is powered by Nvidia’s Drive AGX Thor computer. The halo also has integrated LED lights that will help passengers identify their vehicle (similar to how Waymo’s Jaguar I-Pace SUVs work).

Importantly, all of this additional technology is being added to Gravity while it is being built at Lucid Motors’ Casa Grande, Arizona factory, saving the company time and money. By comparison, Waymo currently has to separate the I-Pace SUVs it receives from Jaguar and integrate autonomous technology in the way it connects them. (Waymo’s future cars are planned to be built in bulk.)

The car revealed on Monday is a more polished version of the prototype that the three companies have spent the past seven months showing off in press photos. The new features revealed at CES are related to how users can interact with the Uber-Lucid-Nuro robotaxi. This includes a small screen on the halo that is meant to greet the passengers and the view of the passengers inside the cabin.

Anyone who has ever ridden a Waymo will find the UI familiar. The screen in the rear of the passengers shows a realistic view of the robotaxi moving through the city streets, with approaching cars and pedestrians.

The companies didn’t have an interactive app — which is being developed by Uber — ready to test yet. But it is designed to display similar information such as landing time, amount of time remaining, and weather and music controls. There are also buttons to access passenger assistance and tell the robotaxi to move.

The front passenger’s screen displays the same information, on a large central display. In the show car shown at the Fontainebleau hotel, many of the same features appeared on the curved 34-inch OLED screen, which sits behind the steering wheel.

Uber chose to build a “premium” robotaxi service around Gravity, and at a high level it seems like a smart decision. The Gravity is very spacious inside, especially in the two rows displayed at the hotel. (Uber says a three-line version will also be available.)

That said, Gravity’s first year came with challenges. Lucid struggled with software problems as it ramped up production of the SUV, and problems got so bad that then-CEO Marc Winterhoff sent an email to owners in December to apologize for the “frustration” they had experienced.

It seems that Lucid was able to make a comeback, and on Monday he announced that it increased its volume for 2024 and reached new sales records. Time will tell if the robotaxi version has the same kind of problems.

Uber, Lucid, and Nuro said Monday that once final approvals are completed on the robotaxi later this year, real-world products will begin rolling off Lucid’s Arizona factory lines. The company did not give an exact time frame for this, however.