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Who builds Uber's robotaxis

Uber and Lyft don't build robotaxis. In 4 US cities, the car their apps send is a Waymo or a Motional.

Numbers as of 8 Oct 2026

The full story

  1. Who builds Uber's robotaxis? A white van with an Uber sign on its roof, labelled the app, and a Google logo on its door, labelled who built it. Below: Not Uber. It had its own once. Swipe: how Uber got here.
  2. 2016. Uber had its own robot cars. A white sedan with a roof sensor and an Uber logo on the door. Free test rides in Pittsburgh, with a safety driver at the wheel.
  3. 2018. One test car hit and killed a woman. The same sedan, greyed out. It happened in Tempe, Arizona. Uber stopped all its road tests.
  4. 2020. Uber handed its unit to Aurora. Uber's logo, a small Uber van and Aurora's logo, joined by an arrow labelled its self-driving unit. No cash came back. Uber put in more money, for a stake: plus 400 million dollars, for about 26 percent of Aurora.
  5. Today. Now the cars come from other companies. Six vans: the sign is the app, the door is who built it. Via Uber or Lyft: Waymo, Google, 2 Uber cities; Motional, Hyundai, 1 Uber city; Waymo, 1 Lyft city. In its own app: Waymo 13 cities, Zoox, Amazon, 2 cities, Tesla 7 cities.
  6. 2028. Its biggest partner plans its own app. An Uber sign by the road while a Google van drives away. Waymo told Uber it will launch its own app in Austin and Atlanta in January 2028. Waymo cars stay on Uber until at least May 2028.
  7. Next. So Uber is buying cars again. Three vans with Uber signs above a Lucid plate. Lucid builds the car, Nuro writes the software, Uber or its partners own the fleet. Up to 20,000 Lucid robotaxis over six years.
  8. Did Uber sell too early? It let go of its own. Now it pays others to build them. Yes or no. Follow Green Owl.

Would you get in a car with no driver? 👇

When a robotaxi arrives through Uber or Lyft, another company built it.

Waymo, owned by Alphabet, takes Uber bookings in Austin and Atlanta, and Lyft bookings in Nashville.

Hyundai's Motional takes Uber bookings in Las Vegas, with a safety operator still in the front seat.

In 13 cities, Waymo rides are booked in Waymo's own app. Tesla runs its own app in 7 cities, and Amazon's Zoox in 2.

Uber agreed to sell its own self-driving unit to Aurora in December 2020.

The caveat: the counts include invite-only service and rides with a safety driver. Nashville counts twice, for Lyft and for Waymo's app. Smaller operators such as Avride and May Mobility are left out.

Why it matters: the app you open and the company that owns the car are often two different listed companies.

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Companies in this picture

AmazonAurora InnovationGoogleHyundaiLucidLyftTeslaUber

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