Uber and Lyft Adapt Robotaxi Strategy to Compete in Tesla and Waymo's Space

Uber Technologies Inc UBER and Lyft Inc LYFT have bounced back on their robotaxi ambitions, albeit with a twist.

The ride-hailing giants restructured their businesses to accommodate competitors who have cracked the code, the Wall Street Journal reports.

Under their new strategy, Uber and Lyft will gain a percentage of driverless taxi bookings while taking charge of maintaining the fleet.

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Meanwhile, robotaxi companies will get to tap the ride-sharing giants’ customer base. 

Both companies will start offering autonomous cars from Alphabet Inc’s GOOG GOOGL Waymo on their apps in 2025.

Uber and Lyft had shelved their self-driving car ambitions in the face of the 2020 pandemic.

Reports indicating President-elect Donald Trump’s positive stance on autonomous vehicles also acted as a breather for companies indulging in the sector.

Tesla Inc TSLA chief Elon Musk expects the EV giant’s robotaxi fleet to function like a combination of Airbnb, Inc ABNB and Uber. The Future Fund’s Gary Black expects vehicle owners to make $40000 annually by renting EVs to the robotaxi fleet.

Google chief Sundar Pichai touted Tesla as Waymo’s main competitor.

Bank of America’s John Murphy expects Tesla’s robotaxi segment to account for 50% of the EV company’s valuation and be worth $420 billion in the U.S. and over $800 billion globally.

Price Actions: UBER stock is up 0.50% at $66.64 at last check Tuesday. LYFT is up 0.52%.

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