Did Tesla, Hertz and Uber just jumpstart the trillion dollar robotaxi industry?
The rideshare industry continues to make its slow crawl back to pre-pandemic levels with spending down 31.1% relative to 2019 levels for the week ending October 17th, according to data from research and analytics firm M Science. Uber held 71.8% of the total market for the week, while $Lyft Inc(LYFT.US$ market share fell to 26.9%. The chart below provided by M Science shows the improvement trend.
M Science's take is that the sequential improvement in the gap between 2021 vs. 2019 is likely an indication of some improvement in the supply/demand imbalance between drivers and riders.
However, even if ridesharing is not yet back to normal, the industry is not stalling out. The sector was jolted during the week by an announcement between $Hertz Global Holdings, Inc.(HTZZ.US$ and $Uber Technologies(UBER.US$ on accelerating the adoption of EVs through a new exclusive partnership to make up to 50K Teslas available by 2023 for drivers to rent through the Uber network. Wedbush Securities notes the Uber partnership is the largest expansion of EVs on a mobility platform in North America and starts to lay the groundwork for the long awaited robotaxi network over the next decade from $Tesla(TSLA.US$.
$Lucid Group(LCID.US$ CEO Peter Rawlinson doubts that a fleet of robotaxis will be up and running before 2030, but $General Motors(GM.US$ has a huge investment in the concept through its Cruise autonomous vehicle startup. $Baidu(BIDU.US$ and $NIO Inc(NIO.US$ are also testing autonomous vehicles that could one day be used for a robotaxi fleet. Other companies with robotaxi dreams include Waymo $Alphabet-C(GOOG.US$, $Ford Motor(F.US$-backed Argo AI and $Amazon(AMZN.US$ through its Zoox partner. Waiting in the wings for a partner could be $Avis Budget(CAR.US$. Why the big investments? ARK Invest's Tasha Keeney estimated earlier this year that the autonomous ride-hail total addressable market is as high as $11T to $12T. Lower labor and insurance costs could make margins very attractive at scale for platform winners.
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Handy_ : Hertz said that by 2023, 50,000 Teslas will join the Uber taxi network
Harper lee : Hertz ordered EVs they did not order robotaxis. Hertz also ordered ICE cars. Those aren't robotaxis either. So no, nobody "jumpstarted" a robotaxi industry, they just ordered some cars with driver assistance software. Robotaxis would be nice but they are a long way off and I don't see how a few companies ordering some cars does anything to "jumpstart" anything. The internet always has to be sensational.
Wyatt lincoln Harper lee : amazing the kinds of drivel you can hear at market tops, huh?
Wyatt lincoln : My daughter is really into creative writing. I think she'll use her skills to be a great business leader in 20 years. All you need is a great story it seems.
Spider-Man to moon : "Did Tesla, Hertz and Uber just jumpstart the trillion dollar robotaxi industry?"
Is this comedy?
fly up high Spider-Man to moon : Perhaps Uber sexual assaults will decline without a driver. ;)
Geminiasianboi fly up high : People who paid in advance for full self driving have already been sexually assaulted.
Marvan : China is not "catching up" on Robotaxis, they're with the other leaders when it comes to technology and significantly ahead when it comes to implementation.
The leading players are Baidu Apollo, AutoX, Momenta, Pony.ai, and WeRide.
Apollo, for example, has a 500k autonomous rides already completed and will be scaled to 30 cities within a few years.
Scaling commercial robotaxi will not look like the pictures painted in comments. It starts with strong public/private partnerships and regulations (which the US is incredibly deficient in) that enables an expanding set of fixed point drop-offs and pick-ups. Think major hospitals, airports, entertainment districts, sports arenas, etc. As time goes on, the zones expand. That's the obvious path to commercialize robotaxis. This still requires strong autonomous capabilities to execute of course.