Nuro and Lucid have selected Houston as the second planned market for their autonomous ride-hailing program, with service expected to begin in mid-2027.

The companies said Houston will follow a planned launch in the San Francisco Bay Area later in 2026. The service is expected to operate exclusively through the Uber platform, with additional market expansions planned in the coming years.

The partnership, announced in July 2025, combines Lucid electric vehicles, Uber’s ride-hailing platform and fleet-management network, and Nuro’s Level 4 autonomous driving system.

Nuro is conducting autonomous vehicle testing in Houston and the San Francisco Bay Area with safety operators on board. The company said its testing program includes simulation, closed-course testing and supervised public-road operations.

The robotaxi engineering fleet includes nearly 100 vehicles operating in California and Texas. Lucid is manufacturing production-ready vehicles at its Arizona factory for safety testing and regulatory certification.

Houston A Logical Choice

Uber also announced that it has secured a 50,000-square-foot depot facility and a charging site in Houston to support future fleet operations. The operations are expected to support charging, maintenance, repairs, cleaning and other fleet-management activities for autonomous vehicles running in the program.

The companies said Houston was selected in part because of its size and regulatory framework for autonomous vehicle operations. Nuro has maintained operations in Houston since 2019 and has conducted Level 4 autonomous vehicle operations on public roads in the city.

The program is scheduled to launch first in the San Francisco Bay Area later this year and calls for at least 35,000 vehicles deployed globally across multiple markets over time.

Go-To Electric Vehicles

The service is expected to use Lucid Gravity vehicles and future Lucid midsize models equipped with Nuro’s autonomous driving technology. The vehicles will include cameras, lidar and radar sensors. Uber is developing the in-vehicle rider experience, while Nuro is providing autonomous-driving visual features.

The vehicles will be owned and operated by Uber and its fleet partners and will be available exclusively through the Uber platform.