Beginning Wednesday, when you call an Uber, you may be matched with an autonomous robotaxi, thanks to the rideshare platform’s partnership with Avride.
To get a ride from the robots, you just call an Uber as normal. The fleet of autonomous Hyundai Ioniq 5s are integrated into the service’s person-driven fleet, and you will be notified if one is assigned to your ride.
In the Uber app, riders have the ability to decline an autonomous ride when offered or, for the adventurous, increase their odds of getting one in settings. You also use the app to open the door of the vehicle and start the ride.
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Uber announced its Dallas partnership with Avride in October 2024, and it already yielded the little four-wheeled food delivery robots seen scurrying around downtown and Deep Ellum.
“Building on the success of our autonomous delivery partnership, we’re now expanding our collaboration with Uber and bringing our core technology to passenger mobility, laying the groundwork for scalable autonomous transportation,” said Avride CEO Dmitry Polishchuk.
“Robotaxis are what we’ve been building from day one, and we’re excited to begin introducing them in Dallas, with our partners at Uber.”
Currently, Avride manages its own fleet — which includes cleaning, maintenance, inspections, charging and depot management — but Uber plans to take over down the line.
In May, Uber announced a partnership offering autonomous rides in Arlington through May Mobility, and Lyft announced plans to bring robotaxis to Dallas in February.
Local Waymos, meanwhile, will part with their safety monitors any day now. Last month the company announced the final phase of testing — driverless rides for employees — would begin in “the coming weeks,” and rides would be public early next year.
Uber currently offers autonomous vehicles in Abu Dhabi, Atlanta, Austin, Phoenix and Riyadh. In addition to Dallas and Arlington, the rideshare company is working on robotaxis in Dubai, London, Los Angeles, Munich and the San Francisco Bay Area.
The cars currently have a safety driver in them, which will be removed at some not yet specified point in the future. The service is available in a limited area now, again with plans for expansion soonish. Uber is already doing the robotaxi thing in Arlington, with a different provider, May Mobility. Waymo as noted is testing in Dallas and will begin service in a few weeks. You may not be able to take a flying taxi to a World Cup games but you will be able to take one of these. Uber’s press release is here, the DMN’s editorial page welcomes them to town, and TechCrunch has more.