Optimism about robotaxis has returned to the automotive industry, albeit in a modified form after recent exposure to the harsh realities of creating a fleet of fully autonomous vehicles (AVs).
Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi said on 6 August that the ride-hailing giant was in “late-stage” discussions with unnamed global AV developers to join the Uber platform, meaning that app users could find a driverless car in front of them sooner rather than later. “Right now, the economics and the math are definitely working,” he said on Uber’s second-quarter earnings call.
Meanwhile, Google parent company Alphabet said late last month that it was committing a further $5 billion into its Waymo robotaxi unit in its bid to create the “world’s leading autonomous driving technology company”.
Waymo now claims to deliver more than 50,000 paid driverless rides a week, mainly in San Francisco, California and Phoenix, Arizona.