[Digital Today Seung-ah Yoo, intern reporter] Lucid and mobility company Bolt signed a partnership to operate 25,000 autonomous electric vehicles (EVs) in Europe. Specific orders or transactions have not yet been made, and the timing of the rollout was not disclosed.

On Sept. 17 (local time), Electrek and other foreign media reported that Bolt plans to deploy at least 25,000 autonomous EVs on its platform based on Lucid’s next-generation midsize platform. The plan is part of Bolt’s goal to secure 100,000 autonomous vehicles on its platform by 2035.

Bolt has more than 200 million customers and 4.5 million drivers and delivery workers, and operates services in 850 cities in more than 50 countries. Bolt plans to own and operate the vehicles directly. Through a dedicated unit, Bolt Autonomous Driving Solutions, it will set requirements for vehicles, software and safety, and will also build the operating infrastructure and city partnerships.

The vehicles will be developed based on Lucid’s next-generation midsize platform. The two companies plan to jointly develop “ADS-ready” vehicles, assuming an autonomous driving system will be installed from the product planning stage. The targeted autonomy level is SAE Level 4. The vehicles are expected to use Nvidia’s Hyperion. Hyperion is a reference architecture that combines high-performance computing hardware and sensor configurations required for autonomous driving.

Hyperion itself does not mean completed autonomous driving software. The two companies said they plan to work with separate autonomous driving technology partners to implement Level 4 autonomy. The provider of the autonomous driving software that will actually control the vehicles has not yet been disclosed.

Lucid will 추진 the project by integrating capabilities in artificial intelligence (AI), driver assistance and autonomous driving development through a newly established unit, Lucid Technology. Lucid Chief Executive Silvio Napoli (Silvio Napoli) said shared autonomous mobility is an opportunity to extend its technology beyond consumer vehicles. Bolt founder and CEO Markus Villig (Markus Villig) said Europe’s autonomous driving services need to be built so that data, software, vehicles and operations function as a single system tailored to European roads and regulations.

This is not the first time Lucid has announced a large-scale autonomous vehicle supply plan. Lucid is pursuing a Gravity-based robotaxi business in the United States with Uber and autonomous driving technology company Nuro. Under plans disclosed so far, at least 35,000 autonomous vehicles are to be deployed in the United States through Uber and Nuro. The U.S. business is based on Nuro’s autonomous driving system, with testing under way in the San Francisco Bay Area and Houston.

The partnership with Bolt differs in structure from the U.S. business. In Europe, it will use vehicles based on the midsize platform rather than the Gravity SUV, and it will use Nvidia Hyperion rather than Nuro as the foundation for the autonomous driving system. If the plan proceeds as intended, Lucid will be involved in supply plans totaling more than 60,000 autonomous vehicles in the United States and Europe.

The midsize platform underpinning the partnership has not yet been commercialised. In August, during an operational reorganisation, Lucid delayed the launch of its midsize EV from the end of 2026 to the second half of 2027. Lucid is continuing development of the midsize platform and is conducting validation of prototypes and powertrains and preparations for mass production.

The two companies did not disclose a detailed deployment schedule or investment 규모 for the autonomous vehicles for Bolt. As a result, the partnership can be seen as a long-term plan for large-scale autonomous vehicle operations in Europe, and the timing of actual commercialisation is expected to depend on the development and mass production of the midsize platform, securing autonomous driving technology partners, and building regulatory approvals and operating infrastructure in each country.

A major step toward scaling autonomous mobility across Europe. Lucid and Bolt are partnering to accelerate autonomous mobility across Europe, with plans to develop and deploy at least 25,000 autonomous Lucid vehicles. Combining Lucid's software-defined vehicle platform with… pic.twitter.com/R2txLQW4No