Uber just announced it will deploy 2,000 robotaxis across Europe with Pony.ai, a Chinese autonomous vehicle company. The same China where Uber spent $2 billion trying to compete before retreating in 2016 after getting its ass handed to it by Didi Chuxing. But sure, let's partner up now that the expensive part is someone else's problem.
Pony.ai will build the cars. Pony.ai will operate the fleet. Uber will slap its app on top and take a cut for doing what it does best: being a middleman with negative unit economics. This is the corporate equivalent of your friend who doesn't own a lawnmower but will definitely help you move if you rent the truck.
The press release says fleet size is critical for commercialization. Translation: nobody makes money on robotaxis yet, but whoever loses the most money at scale wins. It's a race to see which company can light investor capital on fire in the most European cities simultaneously. Pony.ai operates in China and the Middle East. Uber operates everywhere it hasn't been banned yet. Together they will lose money in new and exciting jurisdictions.
Retail traders will read "2,000 robotaxis" and picture a fleet of silent electric pods gliding through Amsterdam at dawn, ferrying investment bankers to meetings about the future of mobility. What they should picture is 2,000 extremely expensive sedans creeping through roundabouts at 11 mph while a safety driver sits in the passenger seat checking his phone, which is exactly what every robotaxi deployment has looked like for the past six years.
Uber's stock will probably go up anyway because the headline contains the word "autonomous" and retail hasn't figured out that word just means "more expensive taxi with extra steps."
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