Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi has stated that he would like his company to collaborate with Tesla on autonomous ride-hailing. Tesla CEO Elon Musk, however, would rather have the company’s robotaxi service stand alone. The disparity in strategy reflects how the market for autonomous vehicles is evolving.
Khosrowshahi recently suggested that Musk would launch Tesla’s robotaxi service separately from outside partnerships. However, Khosrowshahi is eager for potential collaboration, stating, “We would love to partner with Tesla.” He highlighted the benefits of the collaboration for both companies and pointed out that Uber’s adoption of Tesla’s autonomous vehicles could boost both companies’ revenues. Khosrowshahi lightheartedly confessed the challenge of competing head-on with Tesla, stating, “No one wants to compete against Tesla or Elon, if you can help it.”
Tesla’s autonomous vehicle plans have been years in the making. Musk has been espousing a proprietary strategy with the goal of building a fleet of autonomous Tesla vehicles that would be driven as part of a Tesla-run ride-hailing service. Uber’s strategy, based on partnerships and accommodating a range of autonomous car tech onto its platform, is the opposite of this strategy. Though Uber has made significant investments in autonomous technology, Khosrowshahi emphasized that the company knows hardware development is not its core competency. Instead, to provide autonomous ride services, Uber would like to partner with hardware-focused companies like Tesla. It is yet to be observed whether Uber and Tesla will partner. While Tesla’s recent trajectory is geared towards a single service, Uber is open to incorporating its autonomous vehicles into the network. The direction taken by industry giants like Uber and Tesla will play an important role in how humans move in the future as the autonomous car ecosystem is developed.
