Uber CEO sends message to Google’s Waymo and Elon Musk’s Tesla: Robotaxi wars can’t be won by ride-hailing…

Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi has laid down a strategic plan to maximise the returns from robotaxi plans by saying that the winner of the ‘robotaxi wars’ won't be the company with the best software alone or the ride-hailing business alone but utilising these vehicles for other tasks.

In an apparent message to rivals like Google’s Waymo and Elon Musk’s Tesla, Khosrowshahi argued during the company’s fourth-quarter earnings call that a massive logistics ecosystem that keeps autonomous vehicles (AVs) working 24/7 by shifting between ferrying passengers and delivering is a solution to win the robotaxi race.




He talked about the core challenge facing self-driving cars is the hours when the demand is low and cars sit idle. Khosrowshahi claims Uber’s diversified platform gives it a structural advantage that ride-hailing competitors simply lack.

“Having delivery and freight as part of our logistics ecosystem gives us an opportunity to actually use these vehicles at a structurally higher utilization than anyone else,” Khosrowshahi said, implying that that under this model, after finishing the rush hor shift, robotaxis won’t head to a parking depot but would quickly switch to Uber Eats or Uber Freight to handle mid-day deliveries.

How Uber’s model may be a win-win situation

According to the company, the numbers back up this shift. While ride-hailing still accounts for over half of Uber’s total revenue, the delivery business grew by 29% in the fourth quarter – significantly faster than the 18% growth seen in the ride-hailing segment.

Moreover, by integrating robotaxis into this high-growth delivery arm, Uber aims to cover the high costs of autonomous hardware by squeezing more revenue out of every minute a car is on the road.

Meanwhile, in the wake of ‘accidents’ by robotaxis, Uber is experimenting with ways to train the AI using data it collects from human drivers, Khosrowshahi said. Khosrowshahi said the goal is to make self-driving cars more reliable and avoid situations like last year's Waymo blackout in San Francisco. Scores of Waymo cabs were seen stranded in the middle of roads when a power outage prompted the company to suspend services.

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