NVIDIA and Uber to Deploy Robotaxis Across 28 Cities by 2028 Using DRIVE Hyperion
NVIDIA used its GTC 2026 conference in San Jose to announce a sweeping expansion of its autonomous vehicle ambitions, revealing that Uber will deploy robotaxis across 28 cities on four continents by 2028 using the NVIDIA DRIVE Hyperion platform. The rollout begins in Los Angeles and San Francisco in the first half of 2027.
Key Highlights
- Uber robotaxis will launch in LA and San Francisco Bay Area in H1 2027, expanding to 28 cities by 2028
- BYD, Geely, Nissan, and Isuzu have adopted NVIDIA DRIVE Hyperion for Level 4 autonomous vehicles
- Bolt, Grab, and Lyft are also scaling robotaxi development on the platform
- NVIDIA released Alpamayo 1.5, an open reasoning model for autonomous driving with over 100,000 downloads
The DRIVE Hyperion Platform
At the core of this expansion is NVIDIA DRIVE AGX Thor, a compute platform built on the Blackwell architecture delivering over 2,000 FP4 teraflops. Paired with a comprehensive sensor suite of 14 cameras, 9 radars, 1 lidar, and 12 ultrasonics, the Hyperion platform provides the full-stack hardware and software needed for Level 4 autonomy.
"Everything that moves will eventually be autonomous," said Jensen Huang, NVIDIA founder and CEO. "The NVIDIA Hyperion platform and our Alpamayo open reasoning models give vehicles the ability to perceive their surroundings, reason through complex situations and act safely."
Global Automaker Adoption
The announcement marks a significant expansion beyond ride-hailing. BYD and Geely are building next-generation L4 autonomous vehicle programs on the platform. Nissan is developing robotaxis powered by Wayve software running on DRIVE Hyperion. Isuzu and TIER IV are collaborating on L4 autonomous buses using DRIVE AGX Thor.
Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi called NVIDIA "the backbone of the AI era," adding that the company is "now fully harnessing that innovation to unleash L4 autonomy at enormous scale."
Safety Architecture
NVIDIA introduced Halos OS, an ASIL D-certified safety architecture with a three-layer unified safety design intended to serve as a production-ready foundation for Level 4 operations. The system works alongside Alpamayo 1.5, which takes driving video, ego-motion history, navigation guidance, and natural language prompts as inputs to generate driving trajectories with full reasoning traces.
Ride-Hailing Expansion
Beyond Uber, the ride-hailing companies Bolt, Grab, and Lyft are scaling their robotaxi development on DRIVE Hyperion, broadening the platform's reach into European and Southeast Asian markets.
What This Means
The announcement signals that autonomous driving is moving from isolated pilot programs to coordinated, large-scale deployment. With major automakers, ride-hailing platforms, and trucking companies converging on a single platform, NVIDIA is positioning DRIVE Hyperion as the de facto standard for commercial autonomous vehicles.
The timeline is ambitious but concrete: Los Angeles and San Francisco riders could hail an autonomous Uber as early as mid-2027, with global expansion following rapidly.
Source: NVIDIA Newsroom
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