Uber is deploying its own self-driving cars again, just not as robotaxis

May 21, 2026 Andrew J. Hawkins

Uber’s Hyundai Ioniq 5
The project is starting small with just one Hyundai Ioniq 5, though Uber says its not wedded to that model. | Image: Balaji Krishnamurthy / X

Uber is putting its own autonomous vehicles back on the road as part of its new AV Lab project to collect data for its dozens of robotaxi partners. The cars will be fitted with all the sensors typical of self-driving cars, like cameras, lidar, and radar. But notably the vehicles will not be operating as robotaxis, just gathering data for Uber's dozens of robotaxi partners.

That's an important distinction, especially if you know anything about Uber's fraught history with self-driving cars. Uber sold off its AV division in 2020 after one of its self-driving cars killed a woman in Tempe, Arizona. Since then, the company has formed partnership …

Read the full story at The Verge.

Previous Article
This AI guitar pedal let me roll my own effects
This AI guitar pedal let me roll my own effects

I'm not sure anyone was really asking for an AI guitar pedal. But it was inevitable that someone would buil...

Next Article
This mechanical bird drops dead when your home’s air quality worsens
This mechanical bird drops dead when your home’s air quality worsens

The original Birdie debuted in 2022 with a morbid-but-fun design - an air-quality monitor with a literal ca...