Uber’s boss has predicted that driverless cars are at least a decade away, despite the ride-hailing app putting millions into developing the technology.
Speaking at a technology conference in Germany, Dara Khosrowshahi said it would take 10 to 15 years for “full autonomy” to happen.
He said the high cost of sensors such as the “lidar” receivers used by driverless cars, as well as the need to map cities with centimetre-precision, meant completely self-driving vehicles would take longer than many are predicting.
Driverless cars are seen as a major opportunity for Uber and other ride-hailing apps, allowing commuters to order a ride from a roving fleet of autonomous vehicles instead of owning their own. Removing the cost of human drivers could also slash the price of such rides, vastly expanding the company’s share of all car journeys.
“The road from now, to full autonomous is going to take a significant part of work,” said Mr Khosrowshahi, who took over from Uber’s founder Travis Kalanick last year after a string of controversies.
“We map every city to three centimetres, [that takes] a huge amount of effort and data, and sensor tech has to come down very significantly. Full autonomy, I think we’re talking 10 to 15 years.”
Uber is testing self-driving cars in two US cities
Credit:
AP
Mr Khosrowshahi’s comments are in contrast to the optimistic forecasts made by some of his peers in Silicon Valley, and come despite Uber’s own efforts. It spent more than $200m (£140m) on the self-driving truck company Otto in 2016 and has been trialling its own autonomous taxi service in Pittsburgh and Phoenix for more than a year.
Google’s Waymo is due to start trialling a driverless taxi service without a safety driver behind the wheel later this year.
Mr Khosrowshahi, who is attempting to clean up Uber’s act after a year that saw multiple government investigations, allegations of sexual harassment and the disclosure of a cyber attack that affected 57m users, said the company is “going from growth at all costs to responsible growth, from doing whatever it takes to doing the right thing”.
Mr Khosrowshahi, whose appearance at the DLD conference in Munich drew crowds of protesting taxi drivers, drew a distinction between his leadership and that of his predecessor Mr Kalanick, saying he was not trying to foster a “cult of personality” at the company.