By Shubhangi Chowdhury
Travis Kalanick is reportedly in talks with Uber to help fund his plan to buy the United States arm of Chinese self-driving car company Pony.ai, according to The New York Times.
Faced with growing competition from self-driving taxi services like Waymo, Uber is stepping up its efforts to stay ahead in the race for the future of transportation. “Uber has a platform strategy, and we intend to work with multiple players in the U.S. and around the world who can safely bring autonomous technology to the world,” said an Uber spokesperson.
This move to help Kalanick acquire Pony.ai signals one of those strategic steps and marks his return to the self-driving vehicle sector after being pushed out of Uber in 2017.
The talks are still in the preliminary stage. If the deal receives green light, Mr. Kalanick would run Pony if the deal is completed, reported The New York Times. The financial details are yet to be disclosed.
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Founded in Silicon Valley in 2016, Pony.ai has built a strong presence in China. Though it also holds permits to operate robotaxis and autonomous trucks in both the U.S. and China. The company went public in the U.S. last year, raising $260 million in a share sale. Today, it’s valued at around $4.5 billion.
Now, Pony.ai is gearing up to spin off or sell its U.S. subsidiary. In fact, its engineers had started developing its company’s software that powers its autonomous vehicles separately in the U.S. rather than in China since 2022. This shift came in response to a 2019 executive order from the Trump administration, aimed at reducing American dependence on Chinese tech due to national security concerns.
Meanwhile Uber finds itself under growing pressure to respond as more players enter the driverless car space. Waymo, which started as a Google project, is already offering self-driving taxi rides in cities like San Francisco and Phoenix. Tesla even launched a limited robotaxi service in Austin, Texas just this month.
These services are no longer futuristic concepts. They are becoming routine in places like San Francisco, where robotaxis are now a regular sight and steadily gaining acceptance among everyday riders.
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With this picture on the road, Uber is now under threat that still rely on human drivers. That’s why Uber is actively looking at new strategies, including possibly teaming up with its former CEO, Travis Kalanick, in talks to acquire Pony.ai’s U.S. business.
Today, Uber finds itself both collaborating with and competing against Waymo. In Phoenix, users can book a Waymo car directly through the Uber app. In Austin, Waymo’s autonomous vehicles even don the Uber logo. But in other cities like San Francisco, Waymo has gone bigger with riders there have to use the Waymo app to hail a car.
The cab platform is in 18 partnerships with autonomous vehicle companies like Wayve, May Mobility, and WeRide. Through these collaborations, Uber to roll out pilot programs across Europe, the Middle East, and Asia, positioning itself to stay relevant as the industry evolves.