The American technology company Uber has decided to make a significant departure from its previous “sharing economy” business model, which was based on minimal property ownership and renting out what they don’t actually own. According to information from the Financial Times, the company has earmarked more than 10 billion dollars for the purchase of several thousand autonomous vehicles and for the acquisition of shares in the companies that develop them – among them, we recently learned, is the Croatian startup Verne.
This business move by Uber is interpreted as a preventive measure against potential market disruptions that could be caused by robotaxis, i.e. a move by which the American taxi company wants to take a leading position once automation begins to replace their drivers.
Expansion through partnerships
Estimates by analysts and sources close to the company indicate that Uber is on track to invest more than $2.5 billion in equity stakes in robotaxi companies, while the remaining $7.5 billion will be spent on building robotaxi fleets in the coming years. However, it is an important detail that the realization of these contracts directly depends on whether the partners succeed in reaching specific milestones in the development and implementation of technology.
In the new strategy, Uber is positioning itself as a central platform for multiple autonomous taxi operators. For this purpose, cooperation has already been achieved with key players in the autonomous vehicle industry, including Baidu, Rivian, Lucid and the aforementioned Verne. The company’s ambitious plans envisage the launch of robot taxi services in at least 28 cities by 2028, which would ensure a wide geographical coverage of the new service.