Uber has launched a new robotaxi service in Dallas through a partnership with Avride. The move sent its stock higher on Wednesday, a nearly 4% rise. Starting this week, select riders who request an UberX, Comfort, or Comfort Electric ride may be matched with a fully electric Hyundai (HYMLF) Ioniq 5 Avride robotaxi. The upgrade will serve a 9-square-mile area, including Downtown, Uptown, Turtle Creek, and Deep Ellum.
“We’re excited to launch autonomous rides in Dallas with Avride, as we continue to build towards an increasingly electric and autonomous future,” said Sarfraz Maredia, Global Head of Autonomous at Uber. “With the world’s largest hybrid network, we’re proving how AVs and drivers can work side by side to make transportation more convenient, sustainable, and affordable for people everywhere.”
“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,” said Dmitry Polishchuk, CEO at Avride. “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.
Uber also said Tuesday that fully driverless operations will be coming “sometime in the future.” Shares in the rideshare service are up 3.46% to $90 as of market close. As the robotaxi race heats up, companies like Alphabet (GOOGL) (which owns Waymo), Tesla (TSLA), and UBER are seeing huge success that can be seen in their stock valuations. Uber stock is up 43% YTD, the best out of those three. Earlier this summer, Uber reportedly spoke with numerous banks and private institutions to receive funding for its Robotaxi service expansion.