Uber, the ride-sharing company, is reportedly reconsidering its autonomous vehicle business, according to a report by The New York Times (NYT) on the 26th.
The NYT reported that Uber is reviewing investments in autonomous vehicles and is negotiating with co-founder Travis Kalanick, who was ousted from the CEO position eight years ago, citing sources familiar with the matter. Kalanick, who stepped down in 2017 amid a sexual harassment scandal, is reportedly seeking investors to acquire Pony.ai, a Chinese autonomous vehicle company, and Uber is discussing funding options.
The sources noted that the negotiations are still in preliminary stages and that if the transaction goes through, Kalanick would operate Pony. However, it is said that it has not been determined what role Uber would play as an investor in Pony.
Uber attempted to develop autonomous vehicle technology when Kalanick was CEO. To this end, it acquired Otto, an autonomous truck startup run by former Google engineer Anthony Levandowski.
However, after Google sued Levandowski for trade secret theft and Uber faced a lawsuit preventing it from using its autonomous technology, Uber sold its autonomous vehicle division in 2020.
Since then, Uber has stopped technology development and implemented pilot programs for driverless car services in Europe and the Middle East by partnering with autonomous vehicle corporations. In September of last year, it partnered with Google’s Waymo and began robo-taxi services recently in Atlanta, following Austin, Texas, in March.
However, Uber is in a competitive position with Waymo while collaborating with it. This is because Waymo's expansion of its robo-taxi services to more cities could encroach on Uber's business.
The NYT analyzed that "Uber is grappling with competition from robo-taxi services like Waymo," noting that "the investment discussions are a clear sign of pressure from robo-taxis."
Tesla, which recently launched robo-taxi services in Austin, is also a potential competitor to Uber. Tesla was once reported to have rejected a collaboration proposed by Uber.
Pony, which Uber is discussing investing in, was established in Silicon Valley in 2016, but its main business is based in China. The company holds licenses to operate robo-taxis and trucks in both the U.S. and China.
However, Pony has been pursuing the sale of its U.S. subsidiary following the recent currency restrictions that prevent Chinese corporations from operating and maintaining autonomous vehicle software used in the U.S.
After leaving Uber, Kalanick established a startup called CloudKitchens and has invested in other startups. He was recently reported to have discussed robotics, Uber Eats, the growth of CloudKitchens, and the rise of autonomous vehicles with Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi.