Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi has revealed that Tesla rejected a partnership opportunity and instead chose to develop its robotaxi platform independently. Speaking in an interview reported by Fortune, Khosrowshahi said discussions with Tesla CEO Elon Musk took place, but Musk insisted on an in-house approach for the ride-hailing service.
“I’ve had conversations with him at this point. They want to build it alone, so to some extent in Austin, we and Waymo will be competing with Tesla when they launch… Life is long, but we would love to partner with them,” Khosrowshahi stated.
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Khosrowshahi highlighted the advantages of a potential partnership, emphasizing Uber’s ability to provide consistent demand for new entrants in the autonomous vehicle (AV) sector, where demand fluctuations can pose challenges.
Tesla has been advancing its ride-hailing service, unveiling a mobile app interface for booking rides during an investor call last year. The company has been internally testing the service with employees in California and Texas. In October 2024, Tesla introduced the Cybercab, a two-seat vehicle without a steering wheel, designed for its upcoming Unsupervised Full Self-Driving (FSD) rollout scheduled for June.
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With Tesla’s decision to operate independently, Uber and Waymo are expected to compete directly with the automaker as it enters the autonomous ride-hailing market.