First Lucid Gravity Delivered for Nuro-Uber Robotaxi Fleet
Urban Autonomy Summit in NYC on 10/8, Waymo launches corporate robotaxi service, and Bot Auto completes first human-less Autonomous truck validation run
It’s less than two weeks until our first annual Urban Autonomy Summit, presented by Nexar, on October 8th, at Newlab in Brooklyn.
New York City is at an inflection point: autonomous vehicles are no longer a future debate—they’re already navigating big-city streets. With the likes of Waymo, Tesla, Zoox, Wayve and more all testing in dense urban cores, NYC and other megalopolises face urgent questions around safety, equity, and integration with existing urban transport systems.
We’re bringing together some of the most influential voices in AV/mobility for this pivotal conversation:
Zach Greenberger — CEO, Nexar
Jeremy Moskowitz — EVP of Rideshare Strategy, Voyager Global Mobility
Sarah Kaufman — Commissioner, NYC TLC
Yariel Diaz — Director of Government Affairs, Serve Robotics
- — Transportation Editor, The Verge
Ryan Green — CEO, Gridwise
Ashwini Anburajan — CEO, Obi
Daniel Muñoz — Co-Founder & COO, Tower Mobility
- — Technology Reporter, Bloomberg
Space is limited, but you can apply to attend here if you’re interested in joining the festivities!
Top Stories of the Week
Lucid kicks off its Nuro-Uber robotaxi deal with delivery of first vehicle (link). The vehicle was built at Lucid’s factory in Casa Grande, Arizona, and then transported to the automaker’s headquarters in Newark, California. There, a team from Nuro installed the sensors and other hardware for autonomous driving. Eventually, the retrofitting will take place on Lucid’s assembly line ahead of deployment.
This seems like a big milestone since the deal was just announced in July. And remember, as part of the deal, Uber plans to invest $300 million in Lucid and over $300 million in Nuro. But even if the Lucid piece of this partnership is not a home run, the Nuro driver can still be applied to other OEMs as I discussed with Nuro’s COO Andrew Chapin on my podcast.
Uber’s commitment to buy 20,000 Gravitys is also a “minimum” purchase order and contractual, and is separate from both investments. This is an important point since a lot of times, these vehicle agreements sound good in a press release but don’t have any teeth. In total, the deal could be worth over $2 billion when all is said and done, making it one of the largest robotaxi deals to date and a pivotal turning point in the AV fleet race.
Cool Rides
‘What a ride! Took an AV to the office today in San Francisco and was struck by how seamless and smooth the experience was’ (link).
‘I’m in San Francisco at the moment and I just experienced something that feels straight out of a sci-fi movie. You know the saying “the future is now”? Well, I saw it in action’ (link).
Waymo train (link).
Waymo says “thank you” after humans clear obstruction from road (link).
AVs/Humans behaving badly
Tesla Robotaxi runs over cone as safety driver doesn’t intervene (link). Honestly, I would have done the same thing.
Waymo repeatedly backing itself into oncoming traffic (link). It’s hard to say how bad Waymo’s behavior was in this video since it’s sped up but it definitely was not good.
Waymo stops in traffic with green light ahead, after scooters pass by close (link). Make sure to watch this video on mute.
Other Stuff
‘American car reviewer gets why Waymo chose China’s Zeekr and not Tesla for robotaxis. Zeekr MIX has seats that swivel, massage, cool, convert into beds; boasts 370 miles range’ (link). I’m not sure what’s taking Waymo so long to put their Zeekrs on the road but this video makes me want to ride in one!
Waymo is getting into the corporate travel business (link). The new “Waymo for Business” program allows companies to cover employee rides or buy promo codes in bulk to share with clients, customers, or staff. Pricing will be the same as Waymo’s standard service, and one of their first customers for this service is Carvana.
XPENG aims to roll out mass-produced L4-level autonomous driving vehicles by 2026 (link). h/t Jacco L.
California’s Driverless Taxi Usage Grew 8x in a Single Year (link). For more Waymo stats like this, check our blog post.
Bot Auto Completes Human-Less Hub-To-Hub Validation Run In Texas (link, no paywall). The roundtrip for the run spanned approximately 40 miles, and there was no human in the truck cabin. Here’s what their Founder and CEO, Dr. Xiaodi Hou had to say:
This validation run is a meaningful step, but it’s a waypoint, not the destination…. Success is simple: autonomy must beat human cost-per-mile, consistently and safely. And at Bot Auto, human-less means no human — not in the driver’s seat, not in the back seat, and not behind a remote joystick.
‘As a neurosurgeon I care a lot about road safety. By now you’ve probably seen Waymo’s stunning safety results (like 91% fewer serious crashes). But they didn’t just publish data headlines. They released the raw CSV files and data dictionaries. I did a much deeper analysis. A fascinating story emerges when you analyze how they’re achieving this’ (link). Some good discussion in the comments too.
Amazon’s Zoox Seeks Approval for Driverless Car Deployment (link, no paywall).
Google robocar spin-off revs up London launch (link).
Autonomous Truck Developer Kodiak AI Goes Public (link).
Where Are Driverless Cars Going in New York City? (link).
Musk’s robotaxi plans for San Francisco alarmed, confused regulators, emails show (link).
What else we’re reading/listening to
Splitting Infinity by
: New cities for self-driving cars (link).Junko’s Tech Probe by
: Has Waymo Gone End-to-End AI? (link). Good explanation of End to End AI.Second Thoughts by
: Human Drivers Will Kill 11 People While You Read This (link).Fleet Management for an AV Future with Tower Mobility (link). My latest podcast episode with Daniel and Andres Munoz, co-founders of Tower Mobility, one of Uber’s largest fleet partners. We discussed the main challenges of managing a human fleet and how this might evolve with the advent of AV fleets, touching on charging infrastructure and Tower’s future plans as AVs take more market share, among many other things. I’m also excited to hear from Daniel in person at our AV Summit on 10/8 in NYC!
Neat Jobs
Head of Insurance Infrastructure at Waymo (link) via Tilia Gode.
Senior Strategic Sourcing Manager, CapEx at Zoox (link) via Christian MacDonald.
Vehicle Operator, Autopilot at Tesla (link) via Jose Sanchez Ortiz
Mechanical Design Engineer, Sensor Integration at Tesla (link) via Sagar Vakil.
Public Affairs Manager at Waymo (link) via Heather Aijian.
Until next week.
-Harry
Great roundup as always Harry! The Bot Auto validation run highlights an interesting dynamic - while Waymo gets all the robotaxi headlines with their impressive safety stats, autonomous trucking is quietly achieving comercial milestones that might matter more for near-term industry economics. Kodiak going public is notable timing too, coming right when the public consciousness around AVs is shifting from 'will this work?' to 'when will this scale?'. The freight use case has inherent advantages - structured highways, predictable routes, enormous cost savings per mile - but gets less media attention than flashy robotaxis. I think 2026 could be the year when the trucking segment starts outpacing passenger AVs in revenue generation and deployment scale.