Profit margins from autonomous driving will take years to grow: Uber CEO
The company is putting safety over profits for now, and has inked tie-ups and investments linked to self-driving vehicles
UBER Technologies has been prioritising safety over profits, as the company develops its autonomous driving fleet.
“The most important factor is: ‘Can we make this technology safe? Can we build trust for riders? For example, in markets where we offer autonomous, half our riders say ‘No thank you’,” said chief executive officer Dara Khosrowshahi.
“Safety is job number one,” he added. “We will then, I would say in the next three to seven years, start to focus on economics.”
Uber has been making a stronger pitch to investors its vision to offer a mix of manned and unmanned vehicles.
Since June, the company has announced at least seven partnerships and investments related to autonomous vehicles.
These deals include teaming up with manufacturers such as Alphabet’s Waymo, General Motors’ Cruise, China’s WeRide and Austin-based Avride.
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It also said in August that has been investing in SoftBank-backed UK self-driving software company Wayve Technologies.
Tesla is expected to unveil a highly anticipated robotaxi prototype, one that CEO Elon Musk has predicted will ferry around paying passengers, and let robotaxi owners make money when the cars are not in use.
Khosrowshahi has sought to assuage Wall Street’s concerns that Tesla’s robotaxis may introduce stiff competition for the ride-sharing industry.
He highlighted that an autonomous future is not a winner-takes-all scenario.
By opening up its platform to manufacturers to commercialise their driverless cars, Uber and its partners stand to benefit from an ability to reach more consumers, he has said.
“While the margins on autonomous (cars) will be lower than non-autonomous (cars) in the early years, we think long-term, it can be great for business, and it can be great for society,” he added. BLOOMBERG
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