Nvidia's GTC 2026 conference in San Jose became a launchpad for major autonomous vehicle partnerships, with two significant robotaxi deals announced. The chipmaker unveiled an expanded partnership with Uber Technologies to deploy Level 4 robotaxis across 28 cities globally by 2028. The rollout is set to begin in Los Angeles and the San Francisco Bay Area in the first half of 2027.
The Uber-Nvidia collaboration will utilize Nvidia's full-stack DRIVE AV software and its next-generation AI reasoning model, Alpamayo, which is designed to learn city-specific driving conditions. The companies outlined a three-phase approach for each city: starting with data collection vehicles to train the AI model, followed by an operator-led launch, and culminating in fully driverless Level 4 deployments. This announcement propelled Uber's stock up by roughly 2-3%.
In a separate but related announcement, autonomous vehicle company WeRide showcased its new Robotaxi GXR, built on Nvidia's DRIVE Hyperion platform and DRIVE AGX Thor system-on-chip. A key highlight was WeRide's new HPC 3.0 computing unit, which is expected to slash autonomous driving system costs by approximately 50% and reduce the total cost of ownership by a staggering 84%.
WeRide's expansion plans are aggressive, targeting a fleet of over 2,600 active robotaxis globally by the end of 2026, with ambitions to scale to tens of thousands by 2030. A significant part of this strategy involves its partnership with ride-hailing giant Grab in Southeast Asia. The two companies are set to launch public robotaxi services in Singapore's Punggol district on April 1, 2026, with Grab serving as the platform for the service in the region.
The announcements underscore a rapidly crowding robotaxi market, where players like Alphabet's Waymo currently lead and Tesla is expected to scale quickly. Nvidia's role as a key technology enabler was further emphasized by an expanded partnership with Hyundai and Kia. The ripple effects were felt beyond the main players, with Lyft's stock also rising 3% after it announced plans to integrate Nvidia AI to improve its platform's predictive modeling and mapping.
