Uber announced Wednesday that it plans to launch autonomous taxi service in the San Francisco Bay Area next year.

The ride-hailing giant said in a statement the region would be the first market for its purpose-built robotaxi, which is a collaboration between EV-maker Lucid Motors and self-driving technology firm Nuro . Vehicles, which would be owned by Uber or its partners, are based on the Lucid Gravity SUV.

Uber said on-road development in the Bay Area has already begun, with Nuro and Lucid planning to have 100 robotaxis in its Engineering Test Fleet in the coming months.

Service is expected to launch in the Bay Area "later next year," the company said, but a specific date has not been announced.

Uber plans to deploy at least 20,000 of its self-driving robotaxis with Lucid and Nuro

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