Is Waymo a friend or an enemy of an opery?
In 2020, Uber was at a crossroads: The company made an expensive proof on robot taxis, but the project was loaded with legal problems and burning money. So Uber gave her to start another.
But after five years, the future of Uber looks associated with independent vehicles as it has always been. The company now bets that it can adopt taxis without a driver without spending money to build – at the risk of overcoming them by the companies that do so.
In recent months, the Uber has multiplied by the “platform strategy”, as one team with robot taxi companies such as Waymo. In Phoenix, passengers can order a Waymo car through the Uber app, and in Austin, Texas, it will perform the Waymo’s Robot Savo soon to the Uber logo. In Ride-Hailing Giant is now 15 autonomous partnerships for vehicles, from Waymo to international companies such as Weide and independent food delivery services such as Avride.
But these partners are also competitors. In December, when Waymo said he was expanding to Miami without Uber’s partnership, Uber’s shares fell 9 percent. Waymo expanded out of completion: Last month, the company announced that it would test its vehicles in 10 new cities this year.
Tesla CEO, Elon Musk, said last week that his company will get self -driving taxis on Austin’s roads in June. He has made similar predictions for years about the time when Tesla’s vehicles will be able to drive themselves, but those familiar with the industry say it is likely a matter of time only before his company meets his promise.
For Uber, the question is whether it will ride or run by the expansion of the taxi without a driver. “No one is completely sure who will be the winning technology,” said Tom White, chief research analyst at Da Davidson. “So everyone keeps their potential enemies.”
On Wednesday morning, Uber said that in the last quarter, its total reservations, an important measure of the company’s business, grew by 18 percent than the previous year, which was higher than what Wall Street investors expected. Uber’s revenue increased by 20 percent to $ 12 billion, and is also higher than Wall Street’s expectations. Uber also won expectations for a net income thanks to $ 7 billion in tax advantages.
Wall Street’s analysts were expected to ask Uber’s executives about her relationship with robot taxi companies at a telephone conference on Wednesday morning.
In 2010, Andrew McDonald, First Vice President for Mobility in Uber, said in an interview in 2010 that the noise around independent vehicles “may advance technology.” “Now this face started.”
It is difficult to know if Waymo stormed Uber’s business, including in cities like San Francisco, where Waymo cars can be described somewhat as the prevailing transportation option. (Dara Khusroshi, Uber CEO, said that robot taxis did not affect Uber’s demand.)
Lyft, the first Uber competition, followed a similar approach to robot cars, and announced three independent partnerships since November, with more business.
The value of robot cars to Uber and Lyft is clear: Human employment is one of its largest costs. Jeremy Berg, head of the Lift driver company, said that companies are also imagining in the future when people buy robot taxis to use them as personal vehicles, and in working hours, they rent them to horseback networks.
But at the present time, robot taxis are more expensive than profitable and require a huge amount of capital to develop it. After General Motors, the owner of Cruise, the robot taxi competition in December, bends the Corporate Self -Ruling Club mainly to two: Alphabet, the parent company of Waymo and Google, Amazon, and Zoox’s father.
In Phoenix, passengers can order Waymo through the Uber app, which is close to Atlanta and Austin. In these two cities, Uber will also provide fleet management services such as cleaning and charging. The company takes part of the revenues from each trip, most likely between 10 and 20 percent, according to analysts’ estimates. (Mr. McDonald refused to provide financial details to the partnership, but he said they would develop over time).
The increase in the provision of vehicles on Uber and LYFT applications also limits waiting and reducing the costs of the cyclists. Mr. McDonald and Mr. Bird said the two companies are already flying fleet management companies, so assuming these services to a partner like Waymo is comfortable.
For consumers, a robot taxi ride on an application like Uber or Lyft is a cloud itself. “This is the biggest benefit to us,” said Mr. Bird. “Just diversify the types of options that the cyclists have on the platform.”
But the value of the Uber partnership for Waymo becomes less clear in a city like San Francisco, where the demand for Waymos already exceeds the offer.
She said that Melissa Kovarubias, a lawyer in Phoenix, now takes exclusively and Emo as a choice of riding, feeling more safe and comfortable after negative experiences with Uber and Left drivers.
“The interior is very nice and luxurious, and you can choose your own music,” she added.
Sean Campbell, a lawyer in Phoenix, said that Waymo has become his choice of riding a ride about 35 percent of the time, especially when going to work. But it uses Lyft to reach events such as sports or concerts, where Waymo must navigate the large crowds.
“But to spend a night abroad, I always eat Waymo.” “Something with Waymo, behind Technology: It’s just fun.”
Uber’s relationship with Google, before Waymo turned off, turned off. In 2016, Anthony Lewandowski, the best Google engineer, left the company and later became an Uber executive manager. In 2020, it was convicted To steal the commercial secrets of Google, among other legal disputes between the two companies.
However, Mr. Khusushhahi, who held the position of CEO of 2017, fixed the relationship. In 2020, the Self -Research Department handed Opper to the emerging Ura, which Uber then invested $ 400 million.
“We had first we had to make peace with them, stability in court, etc.,” Mr. Josesuhahi told the New York Times on Podcast recently. He added: “Then for a period of time, we have built relationships.”
In response to questions about her partnership with Uber, a Waymo spokesman submitted a statement from the company Blog post Announcing the expansion of Atlanta and Austin.
Uber profit calls have become a regular forum for analysts to pepper, Mr. Khosrowshahi, with questions about its independent strategy. Niegel Defenani, an analyst at Bernstein, said that most analysts believe that the company is on a promising path with its partnerships, robot taxis provide “risks or an opportunity for a opery.” “I think the market is still trying to know the result it will be.”