Uber Technologies said on Thursday it will partner with self-driving technology st
artup May Mobility to deploy thousands of self-driving vehicles on its ride-hailing
platform across U.S. cities, starting with Arlington, Texas, by late 2025.
This adds to Uber’s growing list of partners for self-driving taxi deployment a
s it competes with Lyft and EV-maker Teslain the robotaxi market.
The ride-sharing market leader expanded its partnership with Alphabet’s Waymo l
ast year and signed new deals with China’s WeRide and Avride to strengthen its
position in the burgeoning segment.
Tesla unveiled its Cy
bercab robotaxi conce
pt in October, with prod
uction planned for 2026 and service launch expected in Austin, Texas this year.
Analysts and industry experts caution that developing self-driving systems
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face significant engineering and regulatory challenges.
The U.S. federal government is facilitating the deployment of aut
onomous vehicles by expanding exemptions from certain safety requireme
nts while maintaining mandatory incident reporting.
May Mobility’s robotaxis will initially operate with safety drivers before transitio
ning to fully autonomous operations.
The Ann Arbor, Michigan-based startup has raised over $380 million from investors including Toyota and BMW.
May Mobility, which has been operating in Arlington since 2021, will o
perate U.S.-made gasoline-electric hybrid Toyota Sienna minivans under the partnership, the companies said.
May Mobility last year ann
ounced a similar collaboration with Lyft to deploy self-driving taxis in Atlanta, Georgia, starting this year.