Okay, so Uber's going all-in on robotaxis, and Dallas is the next stop. Honestly, it feels like we've been promised self-driving cars forever, but they're finally starting to become a (sort of) reality. They're teaming up with Avride to make this happen, and while there will be a human "safety driver" in the front seat at first, the goal is eventually to ditch the driver altogether.

They're kicking things off with a small fleet of Hyundai Ioniq 5s, but Uber's talking about scaling up to hundreds of these things. It makes you wonder: will we reach a point where summoning a human driver feels like ordering a horse and carriage? I mean, I still like the idea of a real person driving me around, but I can see the appeal of a consistent, predictable, and potentially cheaper robotaxi.

Now, if you're in Dallas and you're feeling adventurous, you can tell the Uber app that you prefer a robotaxi. But don't worry, if you get assigned a self-driving car and suddenly get cold feet, you can always switch back to a regular driver. It's like dipping your toes in the future without having to fully commit.

Uber's been busy forging partnerships all over the place, like with Waymo in Austin and Atlanta, Lucid in the Bay Area, WeRide in Abu Dhabi, and Momenta in Europe. It seems like they're hedging their bets, spreading the risk, and learning from different technologies and markets. And that's probably a smart move. After all, the robotaxi landscape is still pretty wild and uncertain.

I'm curious to see how this plays out in Dallas. Will people embrace robotaxis? Will they be safer and more efficient than human drivers? Or will they just be another overhyped tech trend that never quite lives up to the promise? Only time will tell, but one thing is for sure: the future of transportation is looking increasingly automated.