Uber has announced a new strategy to support the development of autonomous vehicles. The company will freely share driving data collected by its fleet with partners such as Wayve, WeRide, Nuro, and Waabi. The goal is to generate 2 million miles per month by the end of 2026, reaching the 10 million miles needed to launch driverless services.
Free data to compete with Waymo and Tesla 🚗
The initiative responds to developers' need for data, who require at least 10 million miles to operate without a driver. Uber plans to scale up collection in 2027, offering this information at no cost to companies that lack the resources of giants like Waymo or Tesla. This move marks a shift from 2020, when Uber sold its autonomous driving division after a fatal accident, now opting to be a support platform rather than a direct developer.
Uber prefers to be the co-pilot who pays for the data 🤖
After the fatal accident in 2020, Uber decided that being a developer of autonomous cars was too stressful. Now, instead of building its own vehicles, it prefers to give away data from its human drivers. It's like a chef burning down the kitchen and then selling recipes. At least this way, if something goes wrong, the blame falls on someone else. Sure, the data is free, but you pay for the ride coffee yourself.