Throughout an earnings name final month, Tesla CEO Elon Musk stated that the electrical automobile maker would start offering paid rides in June for its full self-driving robotaxi service. Now Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi is making it clear that he would not wish to compete with Tesla — he needs to companion with the corporate to supply robotaxi rides by way of Uber’s ride-hailing platform.
“Hear, nobody needs to compete in opposition to Tesla or Elon in the event you will help it,” Khosrowshahi informed expertise analyst Ben Thompson in an interview published in Thompson’s newsletter Statechery on Thursday. “Their capabilities are fairly extraordinary, however I feel the identical financial legal guidelines apply to them.”
Associated: Uber’s CEO Says Human Drivers Have About 10 Years Left Before They Will Be Replaced
Khosrowshahi stated that Tesla would profit by permitting its robotaxis to supply rides by way of Uber. As an alternative of riders accessing the robotaxis solely by way of the Tesla app, they might faucet into rides with the self-driving automobiles by way of Uber too.
Working with Uber might assist maximize Tesla’s income by increasing its attain. Uber accomplished a mean of 33 million journeys per day, in response to the corporate’s latest earnings report.
“That’s going to create a lot, rather more income,” Khosrowshahi acknowledged. “In the end that’ll enhance the worth of the Tesla in order that the residual worth of that automobile improves.”
Khosrowshahi added that if Tesla places their robotaxis on Uber’s community, the self-driving automobiles would be part of 150,000 different Tesla automobiles on Uber as we speak, including to a longtime presence.
Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi. Jose Sarmento Matos/Bloomberg by way of Getty Pictures
This is not the primary time Khosrowshahi has indicated an curiosity in partnering with Tesla. In an interview with the Financial Times that aired in October, Khosrowshahi stated that he would “love” to deliver Tesla’s robotaxis to Uber when the expertise was prepared. He stated that he aimed to collaborate with the autonomous business, pointing to partnerships introduced in late 2024 with Alphabet’s Waymo and Cruise.
Uber already has robotaxis on its app in sure areas by way of its partnerships, including Phoenix, Arizona, and Austin, Texas. The corporate put its personal desires of constructing a self-driving automobile to the facet in 2020 when it offered its autonomous vehicle research division to self-driving startup Aurora.
Associated: Waymo’s Driverless Robotaxi Fleet Is Making 50,000 Trips Per Week — Here’s Where the Cars Are Headed Next
Khosrowshahi told the Wall Road Journal final month that autonomous automobiles would take over Uber rides within the subsequent 15 to twenty years, placing human Uber drivers out of labor.
Khosrowshahi took over Uber in 2017, main the corporate to its first annual operating profit in 2023. After reporting a lack of $1.8 billion in 2022, Uber reported an annual revenue of $1.1 billion in 2023 and $2.8 billion in 2024.
