Uber’s CEO is quite the weather vane when it comes to Tesla!
This page is translated from the original post "Le patron d’Uber est une vraie girouette quand il s’agit de Tesla !" in French.
- 21/10/2024 13:41
Just 2 months after dismantling Tesla’s autonomous vehicle strategy, the CEO of Uber is now praising it.
During an appearance on the very popular Logan Bartlett Show on YouTube last August, Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi did not hold back in delightfully tearing apart Tesla’s Robotaxi project. More than the still nascent technology, it was the very concept of shared autonomous cars that left him skeptical. Going completely against Elon Musk’s deep convictions, he did not believe society was ready to embrace autonomous vehicles wholeheartedly. Arguing quite brilliantly, he set a psychological barrier regarding entrusting one’s physical integrity to a machine, even if this machine claims to be safer on the road than a human driver.
Two months later, as a guest on the Hard Fork Podcast, this same Dara Khosrowshahi deems the vision of the Robotaxi, as presented 10 days ago, to be “Rather convincing”! This is surprising, as this model would become a direct competitor to Uber if its use relied solely on the Tesla app, as Elon Musk wishes. This is where Khosrowshahi’s finesse lies, as he did not fail to clarify that Elon Musk’s vision was relevant only if Tesla chose to collaborate with Uber. According to him, even if Musk has already achieved “unimaginable” feats, if Tesla goes solo, catastrophe is guaranteed. He believes, certainly rightly, that building cars and operating a fleet of taxis are “very, very different” activities. In short, to each their own, and the hens will be well guarded.
More concerning for Tesla, the head of Uber prefers to bet on Waymo and its solution developed in collaboration with Hyundai, which involves equipping existing models like the IONIQ 5 rather than developing a specific model like the Robotaxi. Where there’s smoke, there’s fire, and the announcement of a short-term Uber / Waymo partnership would be anything but surprising. In summary, according to Dara Khosrowshahi, autonomous taxis have a future at Uber, Waymo is the ideal partner for that, but if Tesla is interested, why not…
READ ALSO: What if the Robotaxi was just a disguised Tesla at €20,000?
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