The robotics industry is expecting huge growth. Uber obviously wants to make sure it’s in the driver’s seat.
The ride-hailing company announced Wednesday that it will spend more than $100 million to build private charging stations in American cities, starting with the San Francisco Bay Area, Los Angeles and Dallas, with more cities to be added later.
Uber is currently active robotaxis in the middle Atlanta again Austinby partnering with Waymo. Waymo dominates the US robotics market, operating in San Francisco, Los Angeles and Phoenix. But the industry is growing fast. Grand View Research predicts that the robotaxi market will increase from an estimated $610 billion last year to $147.25 billion by 2033.
Uber also operates autonomous vehicles in Abu Dhabi and Dubai and has said it expects to add at least London and Munich to its global operations. It said it plans to offer autonomous passenger cars in at least 10 cities by the end of 2026.
Charging stations will be located at the new autonomous vehicle depots, which will also carry out cleaning, maintenance and testing.
The company said Uber’s fleet of robots will include vehicles from a variety of partners. At CES in January, Uber unveiled what they called “the industry’s most luxurious robot” — the Lucid Gravity SUVwith heated seats, temperature controls and music, if passengers want. Uber will launch a car for use in the San Francisco Bay Area later this year.
Lucid Gravity robotaxi in the CES 2026 showroom.
Uber said it will also develop DCFC charging stations at “pit stops” in key cities. (DCFC is very fast way to charge EVs and can deliver almost a full charge in less than an hour.)
Pradeep Parameswaran, Uber’s head of global mobility, said planned development is needed to meet the growth of the autonomous vehicle industry.
“Cities can unlock the full promise of autonomy and electrification if the right charging infrastructure is built to scale,” Parameswaran said in a statement. “We’re helping cities prepare for an autonomous, electric future while making charging easy and accessible for drivers.”
More charging stations for human-driven EVs, too
Uber also plans to bolster services for its human EV drivers, saying it will work with charging station operators to add more than 1,000 chargers in New York, Los Angeles, Boston, San Francisco, London, Paris and Madrid. As an incentive to develop new charging stations, it arranges guaranteed payments to those site operators if usage is low.
These partnerships include EVgo in New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Boston; Hubber and Ionity in London; and Electra in Paris and Madrid.
Uber drivers will be able to get charging discounts, which will vary by city and provider, the company said.
Mark Watts, executive director of C40 Cities, a global network of mayors working on the climate crisis, said in a statement that adding chargers to low-income neighborhoods would help truckers “gain the benefits of cheaper operations, better incomes, and healthier communities.”
