Throughout an earnings name final month, Tesla CEO Elon Musk mentioned that the electrical automobile maker would begin providing paid rides in June for its full self-driving robotaxi service. Now Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi is making it clear that he does not need to compete with Tesla — he desires to accomplice with the corporate to supply robotaxi rides via Uber’s ride-hailing platform.
“Pay attention, nobody desires to compete in opposition to Tesla or Elon in the event you can assist it,” Khosrowshahi instructed know-how analyst Ben Thompson in an interview printed in Thompson’s e-newsletter Statechery on Thursday. “Their capabilities are fairly extraordinary, however I feel the identical financial legal guidelines apply to them.”
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Khosrowshahi mentioned that Tesla would profit by permitting its robotaxis to supply rides via Uber. As an alternative of riders accessing the robotaxis solely via the Tesla app, they may faucet into rides with the self-driving vehicles via Uber too.
Working with Uber might assist maximize Tesla’s earnings by increasing its attain. Uber accomplished a mean of 33 million journeys per day, in accordance with the corporate’s newest earnings report.
“That’s going to create a lot, far more income,” Khosrowshahi said. “Finally that’ll enhance the worth of the Tesla in order that the residual worth of that automotive improves.”
Khosrowshahi added that if Tesla places their robotaxis on Uber’s community, the self-driving vehicles would be part of 150,000 different Tesla automobiles on Uber at the moment, including to a longtime presence.
Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi. Jose Sarmento Matos/Bloomberg through Getty Pictures
This is not the primary time Khosrowshahi has indicated an curiosity in partnering with Tesla. In an interview with the Monetary Occasions that aired in October, Khosrowshahi mentioned that he would “love” to deliver Tesla’s robotaxis to Uber when the know-how was prepared. He mentioned 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 via its partnerships, together with Phoenix, Arizona, and Austin, Texas. The corporate put its personal desires of constructing a self-driving automotive to the facet in 2020 when it offered its autonomous automobile analysis division to self-driving startup Aurora.
Khosrowshahi instructed 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 working revenue 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.