Uber Technologies Inc (NASDAQ: UBER) is emerging as a mobility giant that many believe will ultimately rival Tesla Inc (NASDAQ: TSLA) in autonomous driving.
Still, Dara Khosrowshahi, the chief executive of the ride-hailing firm has nothing but praise for Tesla’s electric vehicles.
“It’s a terrific car,” the veteran told Semafor at a Washington summit last week, revealing that he currently owns a Tesla as well.
Uber shares have rallied some 20% since early April.
Khosrowshahi dubs Tesla’s FSD a delight
Dara Khosrowshahi has also had hands-on experience with Tesla’s full self-driving (FSD). “It is delightful, but I have to take over once in a while,” he added in the Semafor interview.
However, Uber’s chief executive said the multinational is not at all concerned about the rising competition from Tesla in the robotaxi space.
According to Khosrowshahi, transportation is a fast-growing industry that’s already worth more than a trillion-dollar. So, it’s unlikely that “there will be a winner-take-all” in autonomous driving.
His remarks arrive only days before Uber is scheduled to report its financial results for the first quarter. Consensus is for the NYSE listed firm to earn 51 cents a share versus 32 cents per share of loss in the same quarter last year.
Musk’s view on Waymo’s robotaxis
Uber has already partnered with Waymo, the self-driving unit of Alphabet Inc, in Austin and Atlanta to strengthen its hold on the robotaxi market.
Waymo’s recent update confirms its autonomous rides are now being booked over 250,000 times per week across the United States.
Still, billionaire Elon Musk doesn’t think particularly highly of Waymo. On Tesla’s latest earnings call, its chief executive expressed his disapproval of Google’s robotaxis, saying the problem with it is that “it costs way more money.”
Note that Tesla Inc is scheduled to pilot its robotaxi service in Austin, TX in June. Ahead of it, TSLA shares are down nearly 35% versus their year-to-date high in mid-January.
What does Waymo mean for Google?
Waymo’s former chief executive John Krafcik did not take Musk’s remarks any seriously.
In fact, Krafcik doesn’t even see Tesla as significant competition, at least for now. “It has never competed with Waymo – they’ve never sold a robotaxi ride to a public rider. They’ve sold a lot of cars,” he argued in an emailed statement to Business Insider.
Also last week, a Truist analyst dubbed Waymo a “bright spot” in the Google story. Youssef Squali finds it reasonable for Waymo to ultimately command a valuation similar to that of Uber.
Uber is currently valued at more than $160 billion, but Waymo is not at all factored into the Google stock price at the time of writing, he added.
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