Uber simply introduced a deal immediately with the corporate that runs one of many largest robotaxi fleets in China, because the ridehail large nears its purpose of turning into the world’s final autonomous automobile clearinghouse.
Uber and Baidu said they’re teaming as much as deploy robotaxis in nations outdoors the US and China, with an preliminary concentrate on Asia and the Center East. Baidu is presently testing automobiles in Dubai and has additionally stated it needs to ultimately launch in Europe.
Baidu’s Apollo Go robotaxi division operates roughly 1,000 automobiles globally, most of which function in China. The corporate stated it accomplished 1.4 million paid journeys in its driverless automobiles within the first quarter of 2025, which is a 75 p.c enhance 12 months over 12 months.
Ever since abandoning its personal efforts to develop autonomous automobile expertise, Uber has stepped up its effort to strike offers with quite a lot of corporations, from robotaxi leaders like Waymo to supply robotic operators like Serve and Avride. The corporate has stated it needs to make use of its attain and scale to assist autonomous automobiles proliferate throughout the globe. And it doesn’t wish to simply work with just a few AV operators — it needs to work with all of them.
Uber doesn’t wish to simply work with just a few AV operators — it needs to work with all of them
“We wish to work with all of the software program suppliers,” Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi said in a Decoder interview in May, “ensure they’re protected and reasonably priced, and convey them to market.”
The “ensuring they’re protected and reasonably priced” is actually crucial half. If riders belief Uber — and for probably the most half, prospects do appear to belief the corporate to ship them a automobile when wanted — then it stands to motive they’ll lengthen that belief to incorporate autonomous automobiles, if and when Uber decides to ship them a robotaxi. That’s what’s occurring proper now in Austin and Atlanta, the place Uber’s partnership with Waymo serves as a preview of what’s the come: human-driven Uber automobiles working alongside driverless Waymo ones, all inside the similar app.
Along with Baidu, Uber has partnerships with Waymo, Motional, Avride, Could Mobility, Momenta, Volvo, Volkswagen, Wayve, and WeRide for self-driving automobiles; Serve, Coco, Cartken, and Nuro for supply robots; Aurora and Torc for freight; and Avomo and Moove Vehicles for fleet administration.
Uber’s resolution to play properly with all these corporations most likely received’t come on the expense of future ruthlessness. Uber is aware of it’ll additionally have to ultimately compete with robotaxis, particularly in markets like San Francisco the place Waymo is rising by leaps and bounds. Prospects have to make use of Waymo’s personal app in SF, and some reports suggest that Waymo has already captured nearly a third of the ride-hailing market in that city, which interprets into misplaced income for Uber.
One of many large names lacking from that record of collaborators is Tesla. Elon Musk’s firm not too long ago launched a restricted, supervised, personal robotaxi service in Austin, and he has stated he needs to increase to California and Arizona within the months to return. Khosrowshahi stated on Decoder that he sees Tesla as a competitor, albeit a minor one with “much less demand.” And he has questions on Tesla’s camera-only notion system that doesn’t embrace redundant sensors like lidar.
“From my standpoint — and that is judgment — you really want superhuman security,” Khosrowshahi stated. “Superhuman, to me, doesn’t imply higher than a human. It means 5 instances higher than a human. I feel the information means that Waymo is round that stage. It’s not 100% clear to me whether or not camera-only can get there.”
One of many large names lacking from that record is Tesla
As a monetary transfer, Uber’s effort to swallow the world of autonomous automobiles is a great one. The corporate reaps the advantages of deploying robotaxis on its app — a share of fare income, constructive affiliation with a futuristic expertise — with out having to shoulder the big prices of creating the tech and the software program wanted to energy the automobiles.
In fact, Uber was as soon as closely invested within the concept of constructing its personal self-driving automobiles. However the mission blew up spectacularly, with allegations of commerce secret theft and patent infringement, in addition to a 2018 crash that killed a pedestrian in Arizona.
However that impulse didn’t utterly fade away — a minimum of not for Uber founder and ex-CEO Travis Kalanick. Recall that is the man who framed the race to develop AVs as an “existential terms” pursuit for Uber. After he was ousted from the corporate in 2017, Kalanick constructed up a ghost kitchens startup, however his sight by no means really strayed from the unique dream of proudly owning a fleet of robotaxis. Now he’s attempting to purchase Pony.ai, a self-driving automobile firm that’s largely primarily based in China. And according to The New York Times, Uber may assist him finance the deal.
However beneath Khosrowshahi’s management, Uber is generally centered on offers and partnerships. Robotaxi operators are teaming up with Uber as a result of that’s the place all the shoppers exist. Who needs to spend all their time constructing a ridehail app from the bottom up when Uber already has one which’s utilized in most nations the world over?
The investigator take care of Baidu reveals how Uber’s aggressive world growth pays dividends. China has its personal guidelines, but when Uber can show that it may possibly play cooperatively with among the nation’s largest corporations, that might assist Baidu and different Chinese language companies with world ambitions discover their method into new markets. And that might work out equally nicely for Uber — if no more so.