Investing.com -- Uber Technologies shares climbed 2% in premarket trading Tuesday after the company announced a partnership with Nvidia to deploy a fleet of robotaxis powered by the AI giant’s autonomous driving software, with launches planned in Los Angeles and San Francisco in 2027.

The companies said the service will expand to 28 cities globally by 2028, marking a major step in Uber’s push into autonomous ride-hailing.

The vehicles will run on Nvidia’s DRIVE Hyperion platform alongside Alpamayo, a reasoning-based AI model designed to navigate complex driving environments.

The rollout will begin with data-collection vehicles to train the system on city-specific conditions, followed by operator-supervised deployments and eventually fully driverless Level 4 operations.

Uber said the partnership is part of a broader strategy to build a “multi-player” autonomous ecosystem on its platform, allowing multiple developers and automakers to offer robotaxi services rather than relying on in-house technology.

The tie-up adds to growing competition in the sector as companies accelerate efforts to commercialize driverless ride-hailing. Alphabet’s Waymo remains the most advanced operator, already offering fully driverless rides in cities including Phoenix, San Francisco and Los Angeles.

Meanwhile, Tesla pursues a camera-based approach to autonomy and aiming to launch its own robotaxi service while leveraging its large-scale manufacturing capabilities.

Uber has recently also partnered with Lucid Group and autonomous driving startup Nuro to deploy robotaxis on its platform, using Lucid vehicles powered by Nuro’s self-driving technology.

Lucid said it plans to begin commercializing a robotaxi based on its Gravity SUV this year as part of the collaboration. Developing autonomous systems remains costly, but companies see robotaxis as a potential high-margin revenue opportunity if successfully scaled.