Uber and Motional will launch robotaxis in the United States over 10 years

Uber is getting back into the robotaxi game, but this time it's bringing in a third party to handle the self-driving technology.

Motional, the Aptiv-Hyundai joint venture that commercializes self-driving vehicle technology, will put its robotaxis on the Uber network later this year as part of a 10-year operating agreement that will eventually roll out to major cities from North America. The agreement comes a year after the two companies entered into a partnership to test autonomous delivery in Santa Monica, California using Motional's self-driving vehicles.

As with the delivery pilot, the new deal will include fully electric autonomous vehicles based on Motional's Hyundai Ioniq 5. Uber and Motional did not reveal where it will launch first.

The move nods to Uber's strategy, or rather wish, to one day make ridesharing profitable - first by being an "asset-light" company that relies on employees site workers driving their own personal vehicles; and now removing some gig workers. (Uber says it doesn't intend for AVs to completely replace drivers and couriers and will need a hybrid network in the future.)

Automated driving technology has long been a part of Uber's endgame. The company launched its own self-driving unit, Uber ATG, in 2015, but found it was not only a money pit, but also a danger to the brand after one of the AVs Uber's test drive (with a human operator behind the wheel) hit and killed. a pedestrian. Uber sold the unit to Aurora in 2020 in a complex deal that included selling its shares in ATG and investing $400 million in the audio-visual technology startup. The deal gave Uber a 26% stake in Aurora, which has since weighed on the ridesharing company's balance sheet.

Today, Uber appears to be trying to avoid the costs of designing and training self-driving cars while reaping their benefits for its bottom line, and with no additional risk to its stock price.

As part of the partnership, Uber will use its reams of data to share insights into how to allocate and position Motional vehicles to hail the most rides and reduce driver downtime. vehicles and kilometers traveled unnecessarily.

"Rather than build AVs ourselves, we decided to integrate fleets of AV developers onto our network," Noah Zych, Global Head of Autonomous Mobility and delivery at Uber. says TechCrunch. "While this won't happen overnight, we expect self-driving vehicles to become an increasingly important part of the transportation ecosystem and therefore of Uber's business over time. "

While Uber Freight has partnered with Aurora to deliver goods to customers via self-driving trucks, a robotaxi partnership has yet to materialize between the two. However, Zych said Uber's mobility business is partnering with several third-party standalone companies, including Aurora, to create "a safe, reliable and efficient network for Uber customers."

Uber has worked with Motional since May of this year, when the two began piloting self-driving delivery for Uber Eats in California, which Motional says has since expanded to include more restaurants.

This could give us a clue as to where the companies will first launch a robotaxi service together, since Motional already has a license to test its AV vehicles - with a driver of security - in California. The startup told TechCrunch it also applied for a driverless testing permit with the California Department of Motor Vehicles, began driver-driven testing in Southern California last year, and hopes to expand testing. to include driverless operation.

Las Vegas is another likely location.

Motional has been testing for years in Las Vegas and recently launched a free robotaxi service on the Lyft network. Both companies plan to reach full-scale commercial launch by 2023, something that is still on the way despite Motion...