JAKARTA — Uber’s robotaxi service is set to arrive in Houston, the United States, in mid-2027, and the plan offers a clear picture: ride-hailing is moving into a new phase without a human driver behind the wheel. For online taxi drivers, app companies, and daily users, this shift is not just about sleek cars.
Uber is preparing the premium robotaxi service with electric vehicle maker Lucid and autonomous vehicle technology company Nuro. Houston has been chosen as the second market in the three-company partnership, after San Francisco, which is targeted to begin operating by the end of this year.
Reuters reported on Thursday (18/6/2026) that Uber said the program’s initial focus is San Francisco and Houston. After those two cities, the company aims to expand to dozens of cities in the coming years.
Uber also carries a familiar name in Indonesia. The U.S.-based company once pioneered app-based transportation services in many countries, including Indonesia, before leaving Southeast Asia after selling its business to Grab. Now, Uber is trying to push deeper into the next chapter: an online transportation fleet run by autonomous systems.
Uber robotaxi and the new direction of ride-hailing
Uber’s robotaxi plan matters because the ride-hailing business model has long rested on two pillars: the app and the driver network. The app handles demand, fares, routes, and payments. Drivers carry out the trips on the road.
Robotaxi changes that setup. The car is no longer just a vehicle owned by a partner driver, but part of a fleet owned or operated by the company. Under this partnership, Uber will act as both owner and operator of the robotaxi fleet.
That means Uber will do more than provide a booking app. The company will also manage the vehicles, the passenger experience inside the cabin, and how users interact with the car during a trip. From opening the door to confirming the destination, and handling problems if they arise along the way.
In Houston, Uber is also building the physical foundation for the service. The company already has a 50,000-square-foot depot and a dedicated charging facility that will serve as the robotaxi operations hub. It is not just an app on a phone. There is a large garage, battery charging, vehicle inspections, and a fleet monitoring system.
The move shows one simple thing: autonomous ride-hailing requires infrastructure far more complex than a standard ride-hailing service. Cars must be ready, batteries charged, software updated, and vehicles checked before they return to the road.
Why San Francisco and Houston became test grounds
San Francisco and Houston are not empty territory for robotaxis. In both cities, Uber will face Waymo, the autonomous vehicle company owned by Alphabet, Google’s parent company. Waymo already runs commercial robotaxi services in both markets.
That competition makes Uber’s launch look more serious. Uber is not entering a market that does not yet exist; it is trying to catch up with a player that got there first. The stakes are high: passenger trust, regulatory approval, and the vehicles’ ability to handle real road conditions.
In recent months, Nuro has been testing the Lucid Gravity SUV fitted with autonomous driving systems in San Francisco. Reuters reported that the company also gave Uber employees a chance to order the Lucid robotaxi during the testing phase.
But the vehicle is not fully driverless yet. A safety driver is still inside the vehicle. That remains the case even though Nuro received permission from California’s Department of Motor Vehicles, or DMV, last month to remove the safety driver from its test vehicles.
In Houston, the 100-vehicle Uber-Nuro autonomous fleet is also being tested on public roads. Again, a safety driver is still seated behind the wheel. This step-by-step approach is common in autonomous vehicle development because public roads are far more complicated than computer simulations.
Roads can be wet. Lane markings can fade. A cyclist can cut across the lane unexpectedly, a car can be parked badly, or a pedestrian may hesitate before crossing. Small details like those often become the toughest tests for self-driving systems.
The technology behind driverless cars
The Lucid Gravity robotaxi unveiled in January is equipped with high-resolution cameras, solid-state lidar sensors, and radar. The combination helps the vehicle read its surroundings more accurately.
Cameras capture visual objects such as road signs, traffic lights, other vehicles, and pedestrians. Lidar maps the distance and shape of objects using reflected laser light. Radar helps detect movement, even in conditions that are less ideal for cameras.
All of that data is processed by Nuro’s autonomous system. The system must make decisions in a very short time: when to slow down, when to stop, when to change lanes, and how to keep a safe distance. During development, Nuro does not only test cars on public roads.
The company also uses closed tracks and simulations. Those methods let developers test extreme scenarios without endangering road users, such as a vehicle stopping suddenly, an object falling into the road, or unusual traffic changes.
For passengers, the technology may look simple from the outside. Book the car, get in, sit down, and arrive. But behind that experience sits a stack of sensors, digital maps, software, data links, an operations center, and safety standards that must work almost nonstop.
What this means for online drivers and the EV industry
The most immediate question for the public is about drivers. If robotaxis spread, will online driving jobs disappear right away? The answer is not that simple.
The Houston launch is still planned for 2027, and testing still uses safety drivers. Expansion to dozens of cities will also require permits, infrastructure readiness, public acceptance, and proof of safety. The process is long. Not overnight.
But the industry direction is clear. App companies see robotaxis as a way to control operating costs, fleet availability, and service quality. If vehicles can run without drivers, the partnership model that defined ride-hailing will change.
For Lucid, the partnership opens a new opportunity. The EV startup has faced challenges in scaling up sales, like many other electric vehicle makers competing with Tesla’s dominance. Robotaxi fleet orders could provide more stable production volume.
Uber has already made a large investment in both partners. The company has poured about US$500 million into Nuro and committed to invest US$500 million in Lucid. Uber has also agreed to buy at least 35,000 Lucid vehicles prepared to operate as robotaxis.
For Nuro, the partnership is a turning point. In 2024, the startup made a major strategic shift by stopping development of its own delivery robot. Nuro then moved to license its autonomous driving technology to automakers and other partners.
Lessons for markets like Indonesia
Indonesia is not yet at the stage of a mass robotaxi launch. The challenges are different. Urban roads are crowded, traffic behavior is highly varied, motorcycles dominate, and digital infrastructure and charging networks are still uneven.
Still, Uber’s progress remains relevant from here. Grab and Gojek, two big names in Indonesia’s ride-hailing market, grew in a market that once also included Uber. If autonomous technology becomes mainstream in developed countries, its impact on global business models could spill into other markets too.
What matters is not only whether driverless cars will soon arrive in Jakarta, Surabaya, or other major cities. The deeper question is how governments, companies, and workers prepare for a transition when technology starts taking over tasks once done by humans.
Safety rules will also be crucial. Robotaxis should not be judged only by their sensors or the size of their investors. The public needs to know who is responsible if an accident happens, how trip data is used, and how systems are tested before they are allowed to carry passengers.
Quick summary of Uber robotaxi
What is Uber planning? Uber plans to launch a premium robotaxi service in Houston in mid-2027 with Lucid and Nuro, after San Francisco, which is targeted to start by the end of this year.
Are the cars fully driverless yet? No. Testing in San Francisco and Houston still involves safety drivers, although Nuro has already received permission in California to remove safety drivers from test vehicles.
Why does this matter? Robotaxi could change the structure of ride-hailing, shifting it from a driver-partner model to fleets owned and operated by technology companies. The effects will reach the EV industry, driver jobs, and road safety rules.
For now, the industry is watching San Francisco and Houston. If both cities become safe, trusted test stages, the next chapter will come down to one question: which city comes next?
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