Ride-hailing company Uber Technologies and chipmaker Nvidia said they plan to launch autonomous robotaxi services in multiple cities beginning in 2027, with a goal of expanding to 28 cities worldwide by 2028.
The companies said the first deployments will begin in Los Angeles and San Francisco, where vehicles powered by Nvidia’s autonomous driving technology will operate on Uber’s ride-hailing platform.
The robotaxis will use Nvidia’s DRIVE Hyperion platform combined with Alpamayo, an artificial-intelligence model designed to handle complex road situations and decision-making in urban environments.
The launch will take place in stages. Initially, vehicles will collect driving data to train the software for specific city conditions. That will be followed by supervised operations before transitioning to fully driverless Level-4 autonomous rides, where the system performs all driving tasks within defined areas.
The partnership reflects the intensifying race among technology and automotive companies to commercialize autonomous ride-hailing services.
Currently, Waymo — owned by Alphabet — operates the most advanced commercial robotaxi service, providing driverless rides in cities including Phoenix, San Francisco and Los Angeles.
Meanwhile, Tesla has also signaled plans to launch its own robotaxi network, relying primarily on camera-based autonomous driving technology and leveraging its large-scale vehicle manufacturing capacity.
Uber’s strategy differs from some rivals because it does not develop its own autonomous vehicles. Instead, the company aims to build a platform that integrates multiple self-driving technologies from different partners.
Chief executive Dara Khosrowshahi said the Nvidia partnership is part of that approach, supporting what he described as a “multi-player” ecosystem for autonomous mobility services.
The agreement also builds on earlier collaborations. Uber previously partnered with electric-vehicle maker Lucid Group and autonomous driving startup Nuro to develop robotaxis based on Lucid vehicles using Nuro’s self-driving software.
The companies said their long-term expansion plan envisions autonomous ride-hailing services operating across North America, Europe, Australia and Asia within the next few years, as driverless technology moves closer to large-scale commercial use.