Uber’s robotaxi timeline

Uber says it expects autonomous vehicle service in 15 cities by the end of 2026, turning robotaxis into a near-term expansion plan, not a distant bet. (investor.uber.com) Chief executive Dara Khosrowshahi laid out that target on Uber’s February 4, 2026 earnings call, after the company said more than 200 million monthly users were completing more than 40 million trips a day on its platform. (investor.uber.com) Uber is not building one in-house self-driving stack. It has been stitching together a network of partners, including Waymo in the United States, WeRide in the Middle East and Europe, Wayve and Nissan in Japan, and Nuro and Lucid for a planned launch later in 2026. (waymo.com) (investor.uber.com 1) (investor.uber.com 2) (investor.uber.com 3) That approach marks a sharper break from Uber’s earlier strategy. Uber sold its Advanced Technologies Group self-driving unit to Aurora in December 2020, then spent the next several years repositioning itself as the marketplace and fleet operator for other companies’ autonomous vehicles. (reuters.com) (techcrunch.com) The mechanics are already visible in Austin and Atlanta, where Waymo rides are available only through the Uber app. Uber handles dispatch, charging, maintenance and cleaning there, while Waymo supplies the autonomous driving system. (investor.uber.com) (waymo.com) Uber formalized that role in February 2026 by launching Uber Autonomous Solutions, a division that sells software and operating services to autonomous vehicle partners. The company said those services include fleet management, charging, maintenance, teleoperations support and rider demand through Uber’s app. (investor.uber.com) The data piece is part of that pitch. Uber said its new autonomous division gives partners access to mapping, routing, marketplace demand signals and operational tools drawn from years of trips on the platform, even as the company says the vehicles themselves are being developed by partners. (investor.uber.com) The competitive backdrop has shifted fast over the past year. Waymo said in October 2024 that it had reached more than 100,000 paid weekly trips, and by 2025 it was operating in Phoenix, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Austin and Atlanta, with Miami, Washington and Dallas next. (waymo.com 1) (waymo.com 2) Uber’s own timeline is uneven across partners. Its March 2026 deal with Rivian targets 10,000 autonomous R2 robotaxis in a first phase, but the companies said initial deployments would start in San Francisco and Miami in 2028, well after the 2026 city goal. (investor.uber.com) Khosrowshahi has also said human drivers are not disappearing overnight. In February he said robotaxis would not replace all drivers, even as Uber pushes to be the platform riders use when the car arrives with or without a person behind the wheel. (smartcitiesdive.com)