Uber to launch robotaxis in San Francisco in 2026

Why it matters: Uber has been making a series of moves designed to make self-driving cars a reality in its global fleet of ride-hailing vehicles.

Driving the news: On-road testing has begun, with plans for more than 100 vehicles in the test fleet "in the coming months" and the full-scale launch of the "next-generation autonomous robotaxi program" next year, Uber said in a statement.

• The company had previously announced the partnership with Nuro and Lucid, but had not announced where it would begin.
• "Lucid recently delivered the first of the Uber-exclusive robotaxi engineering fleet vehicles to Nuro, and several more have since been delivered and integrated with the Nuro Driver for testing and validation," per the statement.

What's next: Uber expects to deploy 20,000 or more Lucid vehicles with Nuro's self-driving car system over the next six years "across all locations."

• The vehicles "will be owned and operated by Uber or its partners and made available to riders exclusively via the Uber platform," according to the company.