Lucid Aims Another Salvo At Tesla’s Robotaxi Business

This is car-industry news rather than a home upgrade story, but it touches on where EV and self-driving investment is heading. Lucid Group, the EV maker, is pushing further into self-driving taxi service to compete with Tesla's robotaxi program. Lucid has teamed up with Uber, the robotics company Nuro, and Oro Mobility, an affiliate of Hertz, to run driverless and driver-led rides in US cities. Uber has put $500 million into Lucid, and a Saudi investment fund added $550 million. The companies plan a fleet of at least 35,000 Lucid vehicles for this service, with test vehicles already running in the San Francisco Bay Area and Houston.

Lucid has struggled to gain traction as a car brand but saw sales rise after the federal EV tax credit expired last September. The company recently cut production and jobs to focus money on three priorities: its Saudi factory, a new "Midsize" Cosmos crossover EV, and the robotaxi program, now run by a new Lucid Technologies unit.

For homeowners, none of this changes rebates or upgrade programs. It is simply a sign that EV makers are shifting attention and money toward self-driving ride services rather than just selling cars to individual buyers, which is part of the broader picture of where the EV industry is headed.