BOFA- PRICE TARGET 96

$Uber Technologies (UBER.US)$ The collaboration is focused on supporting the development of AI-powered autonomous driving (AVs), pairing Uber’s dataset of millions of daily trips with Nvidia’s new Cosmos platform (first announced at CES) and Nvidia DGX Cloud.

Cosmos is Nvidia’s new generative AI platform that focuses on “physical AI systems”, creating synthetic environments and eliminating cost barriers for developing advanced robotics. Nvidia DGX Cloud offers a fully managed AI platform preconfigured with advanced Nvidia architecture & software on “an open platform” for AI model development across multicloud environments.

Additional details on the Uber data partnership are limited, so there is still uncertainty on each company’s commitments to, and investment in, the partnership. In our view, Uber will likely commit significant resources given importance to the business. Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi noted: “Generative AI will power the future of mobility, requiring both rich data and very powerful compute. By working with NVIDIA, we are confident that we can help supercharge the timeline for safe and scalable autonomous driving solutions for the industry.”

In our view, the variety of AV partnerships and products announced at CES underscores our thesis that multiple Auto OEMs will integrate Level 4 self-driving technology long term, providing Uber with multiple available partners in AV ridesharing. For example, Nvidia announced partnerships with Uber, Toyota, Aurora (self-driving trucks), and automotive supplier Continental. With multiple new AV competitors (Waymo, Tesla, Zoox, etc.), we think Auto OEMs will be increasingly focused on integrating Level 4 autonomy.

For Uber, providing data and ride imaging/video in an increasingly opensourced manner could help Auto OEMs reach L4 more quickly, and effectively reduce the likehood of a “Walled Garden” outcome for only one OEM. Uber’s data could also have an advantage in addressing the ridesharing use-case, with higher quality data on the most important trips and routes for ridehailing. Uber is one of our top picks for 2025, outlined in our Year Ahead report (“In Dara we Trust”) as we believe AV-proliferation overhang can change with new deals. Reiterate Buy on Uber