Lucid sells more robotaxis to Uber, appoints a new CEO

Lucid is making some changes. The luxury EV company said Tuesday that it was expanding its robotaxi deal with Uber — and nabbing some additional investment cash in the process. And it’s naming a new CEO who hails not from the world of electric vehicles, but from a company that manufactures a different kind of mobility device: elevators, escalators, and moving walkways.

First, Lucid said that Uber is increasing the number of Lucid Gravity SUVs it is purchasing, from 20,000 to 35,000, for its robotaxi fleet. If you’ll recall, last year, Lucid, Uber, and autonomous delivery startup Nuro announced a massive robotaxi deal that would see the deployment of thousands of autonomous vehicles in the US over the next six years. The fleet will be owned by Uber or a third-party fleet management partner. And the first service will be launched in San Francisco.

Uber is also chipping in more money for Lucid by adding $200 million to the $300 million it already delivered last year. Uber has also invested hundreds of millions of dollars in Nuro, which is developing the self-driving systems for the robotaxis. And Lucid is netting another $500 million from an affiliate of Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund, which already holds a controlling stake in the company.

And as if that’s not enough, Lucid is naming a new CEO: Silvio Napoli, a Swiss-Italian executive who spent more than three decades running one of the world’s largest elevator and escalator companies. Napoli is currently based in Switzerland, but plans on relocating to the US, Lucid says.

The appointment ends the 14 month search for the permanent replacement to Peter Rawlinson, who stepped down in February of last year. Chief operating officer Marc Winterhoff stepped into the roll while a search was underway. Rawlinson had helped found the company after serving for several years as chief engineer of the Tesla Model S.