Uber Technologies, Inc. (UBER.US) teamed up with Lucid (LCID.US) and Nuro to announce the launch of driverless taxis in San Francisco next year.

Uber Technologies, Inc. (UBER.US) announced on Wednesday that they plan to launch a self-driving car ride-hailing service developed in partnership with Lucid (LCID.US) and Nuro Inc. for the first time in the San Francisco Bay Area next year. This move signifies that the company will directly compete with Waymo's autonomous taxi service. A Nuro spokesperson stated that the Lucid Gravity SUV, equipped with Nuro's self-driving technology, is currently undergoing road tests with safety drivers manually operating the vehicles. Uber Technologies, Inc. stated in a release that the first test fleet was delivered in September, with plans to expand the fleet to over 100 vehicles in the coming months. An Uber Technologies, Inc. spokesperson revealed that the vehicles eventually used for public ride-hailing services will be separate from the current test fleet and promised to announce more operational details and user experience plans before the official launch of the service next year. This initiative marks Uber Technologies, Inc.'s official challenge to Alphabet Inc. Class C's (GOOGL.US) Waymo. Currently, Waymo's self-driving taxis are visible throughout San Francisco. Additionally, the two companies have a partnership - users in Austin, Atlanta, and Phoenix can book Waymo vehicles through the Uber Technologies, Inc. app, but Waymo operates independently in major cities such as San Francisco and Los Angeles. Next year, Waymo plans to expand its services to Miami, London, and Washington D.C. Over the past year, Uber Technologies, Inc. has partnered with over a dozen self-driving developers, betting that their platform will feature collaborative operations between autonomous vehicles and human drivers in the future. The company has invested hundreds of millions of dollars in Lucid and Nuro, and announced on Tuesday the goal of building a fleet of 100,000 self-driving vehicles using NVIDIA Corporation's (NVDA.US) technology, set to launch in 2027. This includes the commitment made in July for 20,000 Lucid-Nuro Siasun Robot & Automation taxis, with plans to deploy and operate with partners in markets such as San Francisco over the next six years. However, as Uber Technologies, Inc. is based in San Francisco, the company still needs to catch up. Waymo expanded their services from downtown to the South Bay area over the past year and obtained operational permits at the San Francisco and San Jose airports - important sources of customers for the ride-hailing business. According to information on the California Department of Motor Vehicles website, Nuro currently holds testing and deployment permits for self-driving vehicles in certain areas of the South Bay, but has not yet obtained permits for operating Lucid vehicles without safety drivers in San Francisco, nor does it have the necessary regulatory approval from the California Public Utilities Commission for passenger transportation operations. A Nuro spokesperson stated that the company will work with partners to obtain all necessary permits based on the progress of testing, following past deployment experiences. In their statement, Uber Technologies, Inc. emphasized that they continue to inform local, state, and federal policymakers and regulatory agencies of their progress, and will always comply with all operational requirements.