Uber’s autonomous-vehicle strategy is less about inventing a self-driving car than controlling the marketplace around it. That distinction could become one of the most important competitive advantages in the robotaxi industry.

Instead of betting on a single autonomous-driving technology, Uber is assembling a portfolio of partners. The logic resembles an operating-system strategy: AV developers provide the vehicles and autonomy stack, while Uber supplies customer demand, routing, payments and fleet utilization.

This approach could solve a major problem for robotaxi companies. Developing autonomous technology is enormously expensive, but filling vehicles with passengers at scale is a separate challenge. Uber already has the distribution network that startups would otherwise spend years building.

The model also gives Uber flexibility. If one autonomous platform underperforms, another partner can potentially take its place. More than 30 relationships create technological diversification that an internally developed system would not provide.

There is, however, a strategic weakness. The strongest AV companies may eventually want to own the customer relationship themselves. Waymo’s changing relationship with Uber illustrates the tension: platform partners can become competitors once autonomous fleets reach sufficient scale.

Uber’s $10 billion-plus commitment therefore represents more than fleet expansion. It is a bet that the future of urban transportation will be won by whoever controls the interface between autonomous vehicles and consumers.

If Uber succeeds, it may not need to manufacture the best robotaxi. It may simply need to become the place where customers find all of them.

Source: https://vectorwire.ai/article/uber-has-partnered-with-over-30-av-companies-in-two-years-78f83f