Stellantis teams up with NVIDIA and Uber to beat Tesla at driverless taxi game

Stellantis, the parent company of Vauxhall and Peugeot among many other brands, has announced its intention to join the rapidly developing autonomous taxi market, partnering with tech giant NVIDIA, as well as Uber in an effort to take on the likes of Tesla and Waymo.

The automotive conglomerate announced that it intends to use its pre-existing vehicular architecture for this project, both of which are said to be AV (autonomous vehicle)-ready. While the K0 Medium Van and STLA Small platforms in question already underpin the likes of the Vauxhall Vivaro and forthcoming next-generation Vauxhall Corsa respectively, the images provided with this announcement suggest Stellantis could instead design its own unique models specifically for use as taxis.

Regardless of their design and badging, these vehicles will utilise NVIDIA’s AI-based Level 4 autonomous driving architecture, which will be able to drive without any human interference the majority of the time, only occasionally requiring inputs from a remote operator.

With Taiwanese firm Foxconn helping merge Stellantis’ vehicles with NVIDIA’s systems, Uber will provide the driverless taxi service to consumers. In the future, drivers will theoretically be able to request a ride from one of these new Stellantis robotaxis via the Uber app.

Stellantis CEO, Antonio Filosa, said: “Autonomous mobility opens the door to new, more affordable transportation choices for customers. We have built AV-ready platforms to meet growing demand, and by partnering with leaders in AI, electronics, and mobility services, we aim to create a scalable solution that delivers smarter, safer, and more efficient mobility for everyone.”

Uber says it plans to launch services “in select cities worldwide, starting with 5,000 units, with initial operations beginning in the United States”. Production won’t start until 2028, however, with testing to ramp up as it gets closer to that time.

That’s not to say we won’t see driverless Uber services in the UK before then, however. The firm has already announced its plans to offer pilot autonomous taxi rides in London from spring 2026 in line with Government legislation. These vehicles will be modified Ford Mustang Mach-E’s powered by AV tech from British firm, Wayve.

But Uber’s CEO, Dara Khosrowshahi, said: “NVIDIA is the backbone of the AI era and is now fully harnessing that innovation to unleash L4 autonomy at enormous scale, with Stellantis among the first to integrate NVIDIA’s technology for deployment on Uber. We are thrilled to work with Stellantis to bring thousands of their autonomous vehicles to riders around the world.”

It’s worth noting that the launch of these Stellantis and NVIDIA-backed vehicles will come a long time after Tesla and Waymo enter the UK autonomous taxi market. The latter has declared it will also launch pilot services in London in 2026, whilst Tesla is yet to announce anything yet. Tesla has been spotted testing its systems around the tricky streets of the nation’s capital, however.

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