New CA DMV Numbers Show Uber Robotaxi Partner Nuro Could Not Go 700 Miles Without Human Intervention; Company Seeks Liability Shield Via Ballot Measure, Says Consumer Watchdog

LOS ANGELES, Feb. 25, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- According to an analysis by Consumer Watchdog, new data from the DMV shows that Uber's robotaxi partner Nuro has racked up less than 160,000 miles of testing on California roads in 2025, compared to millions of miles driven by Waymo and Zoox, and was unable to go 700 miles without human intervention.

By comparison, Waymo robo cars could go nearly 20,000 miles before the computer disengaged and Zoox could go 60,000 miles.

Uber announced that it would put 20,000 robotaxis powered by Nuro's technology on the road by 2026. At the same time, Uber has filed a ballot measure to limit liability for its drivers and its driverless cars by restricting injured victims' rights to contingency fee attorneys.

"Fully autonomous vehicles would have to be driven hundreds of millions of miles and sometimes billions of miles to demonstrate their safety in terms of fatalities and injuries," a report from RAND Corporation has said.

"It's frightening that Uber would seek to deploy robotaxis with its technology partner Nuro having done so little testing and with such unsuccessful results," said Justin Kloczko, Director of the Privacy and Technology program at Consumer Watchdog. "Only under the new limited liability rules that Uber proposes could it get away with deploying such unproven technology. Califorians shouldn't be the guinea pigs for Uber's reckless experiment."

Nuro, an autonomous vehicle company that is partnering with Uber this year in a new robotaxi rollout, drove less miles and clocked a higher disengagement rate in 2025 compared to 2024, according to new disengagement data released by the California Department of Motor Vehicles. A disengagement is when a human driver decides to take over driving from the autonomous system (AV) due to a technical failure or other concerns. 

Nuro averaged 646 miles per disengagement in 2025, a sharp decline from 2,044 miles per disengagement in 2024, according to DMV data.

See the latest disengagement data here.

Nuro drove a total of 157,561 miles in 2025, down from 210,544 during the previous year. It recorded 244 disengagements in 2025, up from 103 in 2024. 

Among the manufacturers logging the most miles in California, Nuro's 157,561 miles in 2025 trails Waymo, which reported 3,346,708. Zoox reported higher mileage as well (1,213,646).

"This data isn't exactly a vote of confidence for the new Uber-Lucid-Nuro robotaxi that hopes to roll out in San Francisco later this year," said Kloczko. 

Both Waymo and Zoox reported improved disengagement rates in 2025 compared to 2024. 

California regulations mandate that AVs report information about testing permits. These reports also describe specific conditions under which disengagements occurred. The DMV is currently formulating new AV regulations that will govern data reporting requirements going forward.

2025 CA DMV Disengagement Reports December 2024-December 2025

Miles driven: 

Waymo: 3,346,709

Zoox: 1,213,646

Nuro: 157,561

Disengagements:

Nuro: 244

Waymo: 174

Zoox: 20

Nuro averaged 646 miles per disengagement. Worse than 2024.

Zoox averaged 60,682 miles per disengagement. Better than 2024.

Waymo averaged 19,234 miles per disengagement. Better than 2024.

SOURCE Consumer Watchdog