What is Waymo friend or enemy from Uber?

In 2020, Uber was at an intersection: the company had an expensive bet on robot taxis, but the project was filled with legal problems and burning through cash. So Uber removed it for another start-up.

But after five years, Uber’s future seems to be bound by autonomous vehicles as usual. The company is now betting that it can embrace driverless taxis without spending money to make them – which at the risk of proceeding by companies.

In recent months, Uber has called his “platform strategy”, which works closely with robot taxi companies like Wemo. In Phoenix, Riders can order a vemo car through the Uber app, and in Austin, Texas, the Robot taxi of Wemo will soon donate to the Uber logo. There is now 15 autonomous vehicle participation in the ride—-on giants, ranging from Vemo to International Companies and Autonomous Food Distribution Services like Everide.

But those partners are also contestants. In December, when Wemo said it was expanding to Miami without a Uber partnership, Uber’s stock increased to 9 percent. And the expansion of Wemo is over: Last month, the company announced that it would test its vehicles in 10 new cities this year.

Tesla’s Chief Executive Officer, Elon Musk, last week said that his company would have a self-driving taxi on the roads of Austin in June. He had made similar predictions for years, when Tesla vehicles would be able to drive themselves, but the inner sources in the industry say that his company is only a time before doing well on its promise.

For Uber, the question is whether this driver will ride or move in detail. Tom White, a senior research analyst by financial firm D Davidson, said, “No one is sure who is definitely the winning technology.” “So everyone is keeping their potential enemies near.”

On Wednesday morning, Uber said that in its most recent quarter, its gross booking, an important measure of the company’s business had increased by 18 percent from a year ago, which was higher than that of Wall Street investors. Uber’s revenue rose by 20 percent to $ 12 billion, which is more than Wall Street’s expectations. Uber also defeated expectations for net income for $ 7 billion in tax benefits.

Wall Street analysts were expected to ask Uber officials about their relations with robot taxi companies at a phone conference on Wednesday morning.

In the 2010s, campaigning around autonomous vehicles “probably ran ahead with technology,” Andrew McDonald, Senior Vice President of Uber, Senior Vice President of Mobility, said in an interview. “Now it is starting to flip.”

It is difficult to explain whether Wemo has cut Uber’s business, including cities such as San Francisco, where Wemo’s cars can be mainly described as a mainstream transport option. (The Chief Executive Officer of Dara Khosaroshahi, Uber has said that the robot taxi has not affected the demand of Ubeers.)

Uber’s top rival, Lyft, has taken a similar approach to the robot taxi, announced his own three autonomous partnership since November, more in actions.

The value of robot taxis for Uber and Lyft is clear: human labor is one of their biggest costs. Companies also imagine a future, when people will buy robot taxi to use as individual vehicles and in hours, rent them to ride-hinge network, Jeremy Bird, Head of Lift’s Driver Experience Jeremy Bird Said.

But for now, robot taxis are more expensive, as they are beneficial and require huge amounts of capital to develop. After General Motors, the owner of the cruise, bent out of the robot taxi competition in December, the club of companies compulsorily shrunk the race for autonomy: the original company of alphabet, vemo and Google, and the mother of Amazon, Zuox -Father. ,

In Phoenix, Riders can order a vemo through Uber’s app, which is soon a system coming for Atlanta and Austin. In those two cities, fleet like Uber cleaning and charging will also provide management services. According to analyst estimates, the company takes a portion of revenue between 10 and 20 percent from each ride. (Mr. McDonald refused to provide financial details of the partnership but said that he would develop over time.)

The increasing supply of vehicles on the Uber and Lyft app also reduces waiting and low cost for riders. And both companies already operate fleet management businesses, so it is convenient to operate those services for a partner like Wemo, said Mr. McDonald and Shri Bird.

For consumers, riding a robot taxi on an app like Uber or Lyft is a draw in itself. “This is the biggest benefit to us,” said Mr. Bird. “Diversity in the types of options riding on the platform.”

But the value of a Uber partnership for Wemo becomes less pronounced in a city like San Francisco, where the demand for Wemos is already more than the supply.

Melissa Kovarubias, a lawyer in Phoenix, now takes Vemo as a ride-hyling option, feels safe and more comfortable after negative experiences with Uber and Lift drivers, he said.

“And the interior of Wemo is very good and fantastic, and you can choose your own music,” he said.

Shaun Campbell, a lawyer in Phoenix, said that Well had become his ride-hairy choice around 35 percent of the time, especially when he was going to work. But he uses Lyft to achieve events such as sports sports or concert, where Wemo must navigate a large crowd.

“But for one night, I always take Wemo,” said Mr. Campbell. “Talk with Wemo, beyond technology: It’s just fun.”

Uber’s relationship with Google, before the Wimo was closed, was introduced. In 2016, Anthony Levandowski, a top Google engineer, left the company and later became an executive in Uber. In 2020, that was convicted Stealing Google’s trade secrets, amidst other legal disputes between the two companies.

But Mr. Khosaroshahi, who took over as Uber’s Chief Executive 2017, took over the relationship. In 2020, he handed over Uber’s Autonomous Research Division to Start-up Arora, which Uber then invested $ 400 million.

“Earlier we had to make peace with them and settled in court, at etc., Mr. Khosrovshahi recently told the New York Times on a podcast. He said, “And then over the period of time, we created relationships.”

In response to questions about his partnership with Uber, a Vemo spokesperson made a statement from the company blog post Announcement of expansion of Atlanta and Austin.

Uber’s earnings call has become a regular platform for pepper analysts with Mr. Khosaroshahi with questions about his autonomous strategy. While most analysts believe that the company is on a promising track with its participation, Robot taxis said a large “risk or opportunity” for Uber, Robot taxis said Nikhil Devnani said. “I think the market is still trying to find out which result is this.”