Hertz is launching a new fleet unit to manage Uber's robotaxis and driver-led rides

The new affiliate, Oro Mobility, will handle charging, maintenance, and staffing for Uber's Lucid-Nuro autonomous vehicles in the San Francisco Bay Area

PATRICK T. FALLON / Getty Images

Hertz Global Holdings announced the launch of a new affiliated operating company, Oro Mobility, with Uber $UBER Technologies as its first major partner, extending the two companies' existing rideshare rental relationship into autonomous and driver-led fleet management.

Through Oro, Hertz will take on the operational upkeep of Uber's autonomous robotaxi program — which pairs Lucid $LCID vehicles with Nuro's self-driving technology — covering everything from charging and cleaning to maintenance, repairs, and on-site depot staffing, the companies said. Those services are expected to launch in the San Francisco Bay Area later this year, with expansion opportunities to be explored in 2027.

Under a separate arrangement, Oro has also partnered with Uber to operate a fleet of vehicles driven by Oro-employed drivers on the Uber platform. That program completed a pilot in Atlanta and is now active in Los Angeles and San Francisco, with a Northern New Jersey launch expected this spring.

"Hertz has spent over a century mastering complex fleet operations at scale, and Oro is how we put that expertise to work in the next era of mobility," Hertz CEO Gil West said in a statement. "This partnership with Uber establishes Oro as an integrated solution that connects demand with scalable fleet management services."

Uber President and COO Andrew Macdonald said in a statement that the arrangement would help bring autonomous technology onto the Uber platform and support a hybrid network of driver-led and autonomous operations.

Oro is structured as a separate operating affiliate of Hertz, designed to serve as what the company describes as the ownership, orchestration, and operations layer between autonomous technology, vehicles, and demand platforms. The launch reflects Hertz's stated strategy to diversify beyond its core rental car business.

Across its Lucid partnership, Uber has lined up orders totaling at least 35,000 vehicles — beginning with 10,000 Gravity SUVs and followed by a separate commitment for 25,000 cars built on a forthcoming mid-sized Lucid platform, according to TechCrunch. Those vehicle orders have come alongside equity investments that now give Uber a stake of more than 11% in Lucid.

Hertz and Uber's existing rideshare rental partnership, through which Hertz operates one of the largest rideshare rental fleets in the world, predates the Oro announcement. The new unit represents an expansion of that relationship into fleet operations and maintenance rather than vehicle rentals.

With Oro, Hertz is entering a space where at least one major competitor has already established a foothold — Avis has taken on fleet operations for Waymo, Alphabet $GOOGL's autonomous driving unit, which currently provides about 400,000 paid rides per week. Uber has also been expanding its autonomous vehicle partnerships, including a deal with Rivian $RIVN to deploy up to 50,000 robotaxis on its platform beginning in 2028.

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