The California Department of Motor Vehicles just handed Nuro something it’s been chasing for months: permission to test Lucid Gravity SUVs on public roads without anyone sitting in the driver’s seat. It’s the kind of regulatory win that gets headlines, but Nuro’s cautious response reveals the harder truth about autonomous vehicles right now. The startup says it isn’t quite ready to start, even though it has the permit.
That hesitation matters more than the headline.
The Permit Isn’t the Prize
Here’s what actually happened. Nuro, backed by Nvidia and Uber, modified its existing six-year-old driverless permit to include Lucid’s premium SUV. The company previously held a permit only for low-speed delivery vehicles, a program it ditched when pivoting toward licensing its autonomous Technology to ride-hailing companies. Now the new permit opens the door to something bigger.
Nuro spokesperson David Salguero told TechCrunch the company expects to begin driverless testing later this year, but without committing to specifics. That vagueness is telling. A permit to test is one thing. Actually being ready to test is another.
Right now, Nuro and Uber are still running Lucid vehicles in autonomous mode with a human safety operator behind the wheel. Last month, that testing expanded to let Uber employees hail autonomous rides through the app, but the human operator remains onboard. So the permit represents progress, but not the leap forward it might appear.
The Regulatory Gauntlet Ahead
This driverless permit is just one checkpoint on a much longer road. Nuro still needs to clear at least two more regulatory hurdles: a driverless ride-hailing permit from the California Public Utilities Commission and a deployment permit from the DMV. Each one involves scrutiny, public hearings, and bureaucratic timelines that don’t move on startup schedules.
The Business stakes keep climbing too. When Uber, Lucid, and Nuro announced their partnership in July 2025, the commitment was $300 million and 20,000 robotaxis. That’s since expanded to $500 million and a minimum of 35,000 robotaxis, split between at least 10,000 Lucid Gravity SUVs and 25,000 EVs built on Lucid’s upcoming mid-size platform. Uber has also made separate multimillion-dollar investments in Nuro.
All those vehicles will be equipped with Nuro’s autonomous system, powered by Nvidia’s Drive AGX Thor computer. They’ll have high-resolution cameras, solid-state lidar sensors, and radars to perceive the world around them. The engineering is happening. Lucid has already delivered 75 engineering vehicles to Nuro and Uber for testing across multiple U.S. cities.
The Late 2026 Question Mark
Lucid said during its first-quarter earnings call that it’s on track for commercial robotaxi operations to begin in late 2026. But here’s the catch buried in that statement: those operations might not be driverless. They could be limited in geography, hours of operation, or weather conditions. Regulatory approval will ultimately determine what “commercial” actually means.
Lucid executives struck an upbeat tone, saying development and certifications are moving as expected. That’s the kind of thing executives say when everything is technically on schedule but the future remains genuinely uncertain. The company isn’t wrong to be optimistic, but optimism and regulatory reality don’t always align.
The Lucid Gravity robotaxi was revealed in January, fully equipped and ready to impress. The vehicles look the part. The technology exists. But autonomous vehicles have taught the industry a harsh lesson over the past decade: building the thing and getting regulators comfortable with it are two entirely different challenges.
Nuro’s caution about starting driverless testing even with a permit in hand suggests the company understands this gap. A permit says “you can.” Readiness says “we should.” Those aren’t the same thing, and the gap between them might define whether late 2026 becomes a genuine robotaxi milestone or another delayed promise in a history full of them.
