Uber has entered into an alliance with Daimler, which will allow the automaker to launch its self driving cars from the former’s ride hailing platform. Uber is raring to deliver a self driving service for its customers, for which it had previously allied with Volvo as well. Daimler is its second partner in the pursuit of the goal.
However, this partnership is slightly different from the one with Volvo because Daimler while taking help of Uber’s technology and ride sharing services, will own and operate all of its cars by itself. It is for the first time that Uber is operating as an open self driving vehicle platform, where car makers can bring their vehicles to the network, and operate them.
The news was announced on a blog post by Uber CEO and founder Travis Kalanick, who stated that while the company is well aware of the potential of self-driving cars in terms of safety, they cant do every thing all alone — Which is why they are teaming up with car makers like Daimler.
In the announcement, Kalanick also mentioned his debate with Daimler Chairman Dr. Dieter Zetsche that occurred during a Future of Transportation talk hosted by publisher Axel Springer in Berlin last year, telling that he was “personally impressed” with the German manufacturer, even though the two had differing views in some aspects.
Uber and Volvo are already involved in development of autonomous driving tech and vehicles which will be operated by Uber itself, however, this latest alliance may spark some change in strategy.
What Uber appears to be doing here, is offering a way for car manufacturers to push their self-driving cars into an already well-established ride hailing network. Manufacturers will be saved the trouble of having to build a network for their cars to operate in, while the cab aggregator will potentially be able to call upon a huge supply of self-driving cars from the likes of GM, Volvo and Daimler.
And of course, this will also allow them to co-exist in harmony.
As the trend goes, many car makers are looking to launch their own ride-sharing services with autonomous vehicles, and Uber will always be a perfect example to explore — not to mention a major competitor. By partnering up with the cab aggregator, Daimler will have a ready self-driving network to push its self-driving cars into.
