Uber launches robotaxi support project to aid AV partners

Uber is moving aggressively into robotaxis, striking deals with new partners and promising big investments to support future fleets — essentially everything it can do except design and build the vehicles itself. (It tried this once, without success.) Today, the ride-hailing giant is launching a new initiative to support its third-party robotaxi partners called Uber Autonomous Solutions.

Basically, Uber takes many of the things it does for its drivers and couriers – vehicle financing, fleet management tools, regulatory support – and makes them available to its third-party AV partners, companies like Wayve, WeRide, Nuro, Waabi and others. It’s a recognition that many AV developers aren’t as cash-rich as Waymo, Tesla, and other prominent AV developers, and might need help covering many of the costs associated with launching a commercial service.

In a statement, Uber describes it as “a comprehensive suite of unique services and capabilities that are already helping its partners successfully build and market autonomous vehicles in multiple markets around the world.”

This new project will be led by Sarfraz Maredia, Global Head of Autonomous Mobility and Delivery, and his growing team. And it will be structured around three areas: infrastructure, user experience and fleet management.

Uber’s infrastructure solutions will include training data from the company’s fleet of thousands of test vehicles operating in dozens of cities. These vehicles are not autonomous, but they include many of the same sensors that robo-taxis use to “see” the world around them. Uber says this data can help its partners improve their own autonomous vehicles as they seek to grow their robotaxi business more quickly. It also offers help with data mapping,

For user experience, Uber offers a range of services, from help designing in-vehicle software to advice on launching new products such as Uber Black or Uber Reserve. And for fleet support, Uber says it can provide access to “a comprehensive fleet intelligence and management solution that gives operators a real-time view of each vehicle.” The company is also developing a new remote assistance platform to help when an autonomous vehicle finds itself in a tricky situation and needs a human eye.

Essentially, Uber is telling its AV partners to stick to the basics – developing software to power autonomous driving – and will take care of the rest. Since abandoning its own efforts to develop AV technology, Uber has stepped up its efforts to strike deals with a variety of companies, from robo-taxi leaders like Waymo to delivery robot operators like Serve and Avride. The company said it wants to use its reach and scale to help autonomous vehicles proliferate across the world. And he doesn’t just want to work with a few audiovisual operators, he wants to work with everyone.

Of course, these services will not be completely free for Uber partners. “Our primary goal is to help our partners scale efficiently rather than maximize short-term monetization,” Uber spokesperson Noah Edwardsen said in an email. “In many cases, the value or costs associated with the support we provide will be factored into the economics of the partnership itself. In other cases, specific services might be negotiated on a more individualized basis.”