Uber is investing over $10 billion in robotaxis and their developers to improve its market position.
The company is collaborating with Baidu, Rivian, and Lucid, among others, with the goal of expanding the service to 28 cities by 2028. According to the article, such large investments will significantly change Uber’s traditional asset-light business model.
Uber is positioning itself as a marketplace for multiple robotaxi operators, and has partnered across much of the autonomous vehicle industry, including with, Baidu, Rivian and Lucid, and has outlined plans to launch robotaxi services in at least 28 cities by 2028.
These deals put Uber on track to invest more than $2.5 billion in equity stakes and spend over $7.5 billion on robotaxi fleets in the next few years, FT reported citing their calculations based on analyst estimates and people familiar with Uber’s deals. The agreements are contingent on its partners hitting certain deployment milestones.
The article below explains that in the future, Uber wants to equip its drivers’ cars with sensors that collect data from real-world traffic.
This information could be used for the development of self-driving cars, and according to Uber, the problem is no longer so much the technology, but rather that companies do not have enough diverse traffic data. First, Uber will test the idea with its own cars and then build a data bank for its partners as well.
Uber has a long-term ambition that goes well beyond shuttling passengers: the company eventually wants to outfit its human drivers’ cars with sensors to soak up real-world data for autonomous vehicle (AV) companies — and potentially other companies training AI models on physical-world scenarios.
Praveen Neppalli Naga, Uber’s chief technology officer, revealed the plan in an interview at TechCrunch’s StrictlyVC event in San Francisco on Thursday night, describing it as a natural extension of a nascent program the company announced in late January called AV Labs.
Uber’s results were strong overall, even though sales slightly missed expectations.
Usage is growing rapidly, bookings increased, and earnings are currently improving significantly faster than revenue. Ride-hailing and food delivery are performing well, while the freight side remains more moderate.
Cash flow matters are in good shape and the company is buying back its own shares. Uber is indeed no longer seen as just a ride-hailing service, but more as a platform company.
