1 Big Thing: Turning Robotaxis into Cash Cabs
The Road to Autonomy Founder & CEO, Grayson Brulte was quoted in an August 27, 2025 Axios article titled; 1 Big Thing: Turning Robotaxis into Cash Cabs. In the article, Mr. Brulte shared his thoughts and insights about Uber’s recently announced robotaxi deal with Lucid and Nuro.
August 27, 2025
Uber has placed a lot of robotaxi bets lately, but the three-way deal it struck last month with Nuro and Lucid could be the most consequential — not just for the partners, but for the entire industry.
Why it matters: Developing cars that can safely drive themselves is a monumental task. Turning that technology into a sustainable business is an entirely different challenge.
- Uber’s licensing deal with Nuro and Lucid is a high-profile experiment to figure out the economics of robotaxis and, perhaps more importantly, to identify a business model that can be profitable for all.
Catch up quick: Uber said last month it would buy 20,000 Lucid electric robotaxis over six years and pay Nuro a per-mile licensing fee for its robot driver.
- Uber is also taking a small stake in both companies.
The big picture: Uber is trying to defend its ride-hailing business from the growth of robotaxis by folding small fleets of autonomous vehicles into its network, alongside human drivers.
- It already has deals with 18 AV partners, including Waymo, the market leader, whose driverless taxis can be summoned on the Uber network in Phoenix, Austin and Atlanta.
- The so-called platform strategy lets Uber embrace robotaxis without spending a lot of money to build them.
Between the lines: With Lucid and Nuro, however, Uber has more skin in the game.
- “Uber has a Waymo risk,” explains AV strategist Grayson Brulte, founder and CEO of The Road to Autonomy.
- “If Waymo decides to walk away from Uber, then Uber has an AV problem,” he tells Axios. “Uber is hedging its bets by putting these vehicles on their balance sheet.”
Yes, but: Wall Street analysts worry Uber’s “asset-light” business model will get bogged down by the extra costs of managing a vehicle fleet.
- CEO Dara Khosrowshahi, on a recent quarterly earnings call, tried to quell the concerns, saying “it’s early days” for autonomous vehicles and Uber is just gathering data to better understand the economics of the market.
- “Once we prove out the revenue model, how much these cars can generate on a per-day basis, there will be plenty of financing to go around” from banks, private equity firms and other third-party financing sources, Khosrowshahi said.
- “While it will take some time, we’re very confident that these assets are going to be financeable.”
Zoom in: The deal helps establish a potential ecosystem for AVs, with benefits for all three players.
- It’s the first licensing agreement for Nuro, an AV pioneer that pivoted from building and deploying delivery bots to licensing its technology for robotaxis.
- With EV subsidies disappearing, Lucid gets to broaden its market opportunities while it develops its next wave of lower-cost models, Lucid’s interim CEO Marc Winterhoff says via email.
The intrigue: Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund, the Public Investment Fund (PIF), is a major investor in both Uber and Lucid, so the deal certainly props up the storyline around both companies.
- Plus, Uber just joined a late-stage funding round for Nuro, which raised $203 million at a $6 billion valuation.
What they’re saying: “If you look at this model, it does allow each party to really do what it is absolutely best at,” Nuro co-founder Dave Ferguson tells Axios.
- “This is the future,” says Brulte. “Over time, you will see more and more deals structured this way and expanded to include real estate assets to manage the fleets.”
The other side: Critics say the focus on extracting profits from robotaxis distracts from the massive technical challenges that still remain.
- “There is no business case for unsafe autonomous technology, and publicizing business cases, partnerships and licensing deals before the technology is safe and ready puts the cart way ahead of the horse,” says John Krafcik, former CEO of Waymo.
The bottom line: The industry still has to prove robotaxis are safe.
