So, Uber wants to replace its drivers with robots. That's not exactly news—the company has been talking about autonomous vehicles for years. What is news is that it's bringing in a serious partner to make it happen, and investors are liking the sound of it.
Shares of Uber Technologies Inc. (UBER) jumped in Tuesday's premarket trading after the ride-hailing giant announced it's deepening its ties with chip powerhouse NVIDIA Corp (NVDA). The plan? To launch a global fleet of autonomous vehicles that run entirely on Nvidia's software.
Think of it as Uber outsourcing the brains of its future robotaxis. The rollout is scheduled to begin in the first half of 2027, with initial launches targeting Los Angeles and San Francisco. The partnership has an ambitious goal: to reach 28 cities globally by 2028. The fleet will be powered by the Nvidia DRIVE platform and something called Nvidia Alpamayo AI.
For Uber, this is about finally making good on a long-standing promise. "Autonomous technology holds enormous promise to make transportation safer, more reliable and more accessible," said Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi. He positioned the partnership as a combination of "advanced AI with Uber's global network." In other words, Nvidia builds the smart car; Uber tells it where to go.
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, never one to undersell a technological shift, put it in even grander terms. "The 'ChatGPT moment' for physical AI has arrived — robotic systems can now reason about the complexities of the physical world," he stated. It's a bold claim, suggesting that the AI breakthroughs we've seen in language models are now translating to machines that can navigate real streets.
The path to a driverless future won't happen overnight. The companies outlined a phased deployment roadmap. It starts with a data-collection period, moves to launches with human operators still in the loop, and ultimately aims for fully driverless Level 4 deployments. Level 4 autonomy means the vehicle can handle all driving tasks in certain conditions without any human intervention.
The announcement gives investors something concrete to chew on regarding Uber's long-term strategy, just ahead of its next financial check-in. The company is scheduled to report first-quarter earnings on May 6. Analysts are estimating earnings per share of 71 cents on revenue of $13.30 billion. For context, Uber beat revenue estimates in the fourth quarter, posting $14.37 billion.
Wall Street's current consensus price target for Uber sits at $106.76, with Evercore ISI Group maintaining a notably bullish target of $150. The autonomous vehicle news appears to be giving the stock a nudge in that direction. Uber shares closed Monday up 1.72% at $74.66 and were up another 3.74% at $77.45 in Tuesday's premarket session, according to market data.
It's a big, futuristic bet. The partnership signals that Uber is serious about building the infrastructure for its next act, one where the biggest cost center—human drivers—could eventually be phased out. Whether the timeline holds and the technology delivers is the multi-billion dollar question. For now, the market is giving the plan a green light.
