Don’t Call it a Comeback, GM is Back in Autonomy
October 26, 2025
This Week in The Autonomy Economy is presented by Koop, a specialist insurance provider focused on robotics and autonomous vehicles.
This Week in the Autonomy Economy, GM once again re-entered the autonomy market, Uber continues to seed the market and expand autonomy globally and Avride is gearing up for commercial launch later this year.
Austin-based Avride is preparing to launch commercial service on Uber in Dallas later this year. To support the rollout, current owner Nebius and strategic partner Uber have committed up to $375 million in new funding to accelerate growth and expand the fleet to 500 vehicles.
When we visited Avride in Austin this summer and took a ride in their vehicle, we came away impressed by the ride quality. You can watch a video of our ride here. As the company prepares for launch in Dallas, we will be tracking key metrics such as fleet size, service area, and how soon Avride and Uber announce their next market.
Another important metric to watch will be uptake, as Dallas is shaping up to be a Waymo–Uber battleground. Next year, Waymo will launch its robotaxi service in Dallas in partnership with Avis, not Uber. That means Uber (with Avride) and Waymo (with Avis) will compete head-to-head in the Dallas market.
Add London to the mix, where Waymo (with Moove) and Uber (with Wayve) are both preparing to launch, and we now have two global markets where these partners-turned-rivals will compete head-to-head.
Is this a sign of things to come? If current patterns hold, absolutely. Waymo and Uber are entering a new phase of global competition, one that will test whether the rideshare platform demand-generation narrative truly holds up.
While these companies compete, we continue to track the broader autonomy market. This week, we released the latest AUTONOMY LEADERBOARD as part of our quarterly update.
As part of this update, we’ve discontinued middle-mile coverage to reallocate resources toward faster-growing sectors of the autonomy economy. Aside from that, there were no major ranking changes this quarter. The next update is scheduled for January 24, 2026.
📰 Need to Know: This Week in the Autonomy Economy
What is GM’s new autonomy strategy?
After shuttering their Cruise robotaxi division, GM is re-entering the market with a focus on personally owned autonomous vehicles. The 2028 Cadillac Escalade IQ will debut a “hands-off, eyes-off” system for highways. This strategy is already proving profitable, as GM expects to make $200 million in revenue this year from its current Super Cruise subscribers at a projected 70% margin.
What’s the latest on Avride’s commercial launch?
Austin-based Avride is preparing to launch its commercial robotaxi service on the Uber network in Dallas later this year. To fuel this growth, current owner Nebius and strategic partner Uber have committed up to $375 million in new funding. This investment will help expand Avride’s fleet to 500 vehicles.
Where is the next big battleground for robotaxis?
Dallas and London are shaping up to be the next major competitive markets. In Dallas, Uber (partnered with Avride) will compete directly against Waymo (partnered with Avis). A similar showdown is brewing in London, where Uber (with Wayve) will go head-to-head with Waymo (with Moove).
Is Uber only expanding with Avride?
No, Uber is pursuing a global strategy with multiple partners. In addition to its Avride partnership in Dallas and its Wayve partnership in London, Uber just launched an autonomous vehicle service in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, in partnership with WeRide.
Were there any major updates to the AUTONOMY LEADERBOARD?
While there were no major ranking changes this quarter, there was one strategic update: coverage of the middle-mile autonomy sector has been discontinued. Resources are being reallocated toward faster-growing sectors of the autonomy economy. The next leaderboard update is scheduled for January 24, 2026.
👔 The Road to Autonomy provides market intelligence and strategic advisory services to institutional investors and companies, delivering insights needed to stay ahead of emerging trends in the autonomy economy.
Discover how our market intelligence and strategic advisory services can empower your next move by requesting a market intelligence briefing.
One-Time Briefings • Quarterly Subscriptions • Bespoke Advisory Services
Subscribe to This Week in The Autonomy Economy™
Join institutional investors and industry leaders who read This Week in The Autonomy Economy every Sunday. Each edition delivers exclusive insight and commentary on the autonomy economy, helping you stay ahead of what’s next.
What’s Moving the Markets
Don’t Call it a Comeback, GM is Back in Autonomy
GM is back in autonomy, but this time with a long signaled twist, personally owned autonomous vehicles. With Cruise now long shuttered and Sterling Anderson (formerly Tesla’s Director of Autopilot and co-founder of Aurora) onboard as Chief Product Officer, GM is signaling a strategic reboot. The 2028 Cadillac Escalade IQ will debut a hands-off, eyes-offsystem that launches initially on highways, the same environment where Autopilot began nearly a decade ago.
Some will dismiss a highway-only launch, but they’re missing the bigger point. Eyes-off at 70 mph is a major milestone, one that Tesla still hasn’t achieved under FSD Supervised. Being able to legally watch Netflix while your car drives itself down the highway isn’t just a convenience; it’s a clear signal of where personal autonomy is heading.
Unlike Cruise, GM’s new strategy actually makes money. This year, GM expects to recognize $200 million in Super Cruise revenue from about 600,000 subscribers at a projected 70% margin, according to CFO Paul Jacobson. That’s roughly $333 per user annually, with $233 in gross profit.
Scale that model across 10 million vehicles over the next decade and add in urban driving, and you’re looking at $3.3 billion in recurring annual revenue and $2.3 billion in gross profit, all without owning or operating a fleet of vehicles and absorbing those costs.
Today, GM already has 700 million Super Cruise miles logged with no crashes attributed to the system, 600,000 miles of mapped roads, and millions of fully autonomous miles inherited from Cruise. Add in its newly announced centralized computing platform, and GM now has the architecture and leadership to build a scalable and profitable autonomy business.
The key question is whether GM will keep investing in this strategy or divert capital to buybacks. If GM commits and iterates aggressively, Super Cruise could evolve into GM’s version of FSD , one that sells cars, drives subscriptions, and redefines GM’s margins for decades to come.
Our take: Let Sterling build.
Advocating For The Autonomy Economy | Sponsored
Automation and autonomy will strengthen the economy, create jobs, and reduce inflation. Council for Economic Resilience is dedicated to promoting the future of autonomy and automation for the benefit of the American public.
Council for Economic Resilience, Inc. is a 501(c)4 Advocacy Group
Piquing Our Interest
Uber and NVIDIA Partner to Accelerate Autonomous Driving Uber is bringing their vast dataset and NVIDIA is bringing the GPUs, as the two companies collaborate to accelerate the development of autonomous driving systems.
Uber and Nebius to Invest up to $375 million in Avride As Avride prepares to launch commercial service on Uber in Dallas later this year, owner Nebius and strategic investor Uber are investing up to $375 million to accelerate growth and expand the fleet to 500 vehicles.
Uber and WeRide Launch Autonomous Vehicle Service in Saudi Arabia Uber continues their international robotaxi expansion with the launch of a dedicated route service in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia in partnership with WeRide.
Grab Invests in May Mobility, Announces Southeast Asia Expansion Grab has made a “significant” equity investment in May Mobility to support the company’s expansion into Southeast Asia. As part of the partnership, May Mobility’s autonomous vehicles will be integrated into Grab’s fleet management, vehicle matching, and routing systems in the region.
Waymo Begins Manually Testing at Newark Airport As Waymo prepares for a potential expansion into New York City, the company, in collaboration with the Port Authority, has begun testing at Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR).
Zoox Begins Limited Robotaxi Operations in San Francisco Zoox has launched a limited non-commercial robotaxi service in an extremely limited part of San Francisco, available only to select invited riders.
Baidu Apple Go Partners with PostBus to Deploy Autonomous Vehicles in Switzerland Beginning in December, Baidu in partnership with PostBus will begin testing autonomous vehicles in Eastern Switzerland with a fully autonomous commercial launch scheduled for Q1 2027.
📰 Before these stories were featured here, they were available on X. Follow @RoadToAutonomy today to stay up-to-date on the latest news and developments shaping the autonomy economy.
Social Buzz
Avride is Gearing Up for Commercial Launch
Photos shared by Balaji Krishnamurthy on X, clearly show that Avride is preparing for its commercial launch on Uber in Dallas later this year. At launch, each Avride vehicle will feature a safety attendant in the passenger seat, with no one behind the wheel.
Our take: When we visited Avride in Austin over the summer and took a ride, we were impressed by the ride quality. Now, it’s time to scale and launch a commercial robotaxi service.
Avride is currently ranked #5 with a positive outlook on the AUTONOMY LEADERBOARD in the autonomous vehicle category.
Latest Autonomy Markets Podcast
Tesla’s Robotaxi Scale Plan, NVIDIA’s Autonomy Ambitions
This week on Autonomy Markets, Grayson Brulte and Walter Piecyk discuss Tesla’s Q3 earnings call, NVIDIA’s strategic partnership with Uber, and GM’s surprising return to autonomy under Sterling Anderson’s leadership.
Watch on YouTube | Spotify | X
Listen on Apple Podcasts
October 25, 2025
Now that you have read an edition of This Week in the Autonomy Economy, discover how our market intelligence and strategic advisory services can empower your next move.
The Future is Bright. The Future is Autonomous. Rep it.
For the architects building the autonomy economy. Our exclusive AUTNMY™ merch is designed for you.
