Uber executives are publicly criticizing partner Waymo, signaling growing friction over autonomous vehicle technology. Uber’s CTO recently described a scary encounter with a Waymo vehicle in San Francisco. The company claims autonomous-only models are less scalable and reliable than Uber’s hybrid human-driver system.
Uber is investing over $10 billion to develop autonomous vehicle alternatives with other corporate partners. A new white paper from Uber also argues that current AV deployments unfairly favor wealthy neighborhoods. These public critiques indicate a major shift in Uber’s long-term self-driving strategy.