Uber won't have Cybercab Robotaxis available says Uber CEO

NEWS: Uber CEO says Elon Musk was not open to making Tesla's planned robotaxis available on the ride-sharing platform.

"They want to build it alone, so to some extent in Austin, we and Waymo will be competing with Tesla when they launch.

Uber CEO says Musk wants to go alone on Tesla Robotaxi rollout

https://fortune.com/2025/02/21/uber-ceo-says-musk-wants-to-go-alone-on-tesla-robotaxi-rollout/






This was Tesla's Robotaxi lead engineer's (@erictesla) reaction to the claim that Tesla won't be able to offer cheaper robotaxi rides than its competitors (Uber, Waymo)

"It's not like TSLA will be the only autonomous option out there"

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I think I'll go ahead and short blockbuster Uber now, to get ahead of the coming crash and burn.

many years ago when I was living in NYC-there're tons of Yellow Cabs, side walk phones, calling cards etc. Smart phone destroyed phone booth, flip phones, calling cards and even BlackBerry. Uber popped up and almost annihilated Yellow Cab-many Yellow cab medallion owners committed suicide. Now, it's Autonomous Car and may be Uber's time to decline-Yellow Cabs are still available in NYC.
One technology will destroy/limit the other-more so, in AI in car age.

I have a lot of stories about Uber. I started driving for them part time to educate myself about ridesharing in advance of the Cybercab coming out because I want to own some cabs and put them out on the street.

So many things to say about why I think Uber's business model is precarious, but I'll just leave this one ride example...Passenger pays $28.92 for a 9 mile ride, Uber takes $0.54 for CA benefits, $.10 for a City Fee, $10.02 for commercial insurance, and $8.44 for an Uber service fee. After all that, the driver is left with $9.82 or about 34% of what the passenger paid. This ride was last night and the customer had not yet left a tip, but they could (some passengers do that later).

It won't take much to beat that for Cybercab, but commercial insurance is definitely a concern. I can't see anyone but Tesla insuring their driverless Cybercabs...The Cybercab owner bogey to beat is just 34%, as you can see from the attachments...

RandyS said:

It won't take much to beat that for Cybercab, but commercial insurance is definitely a concern. I can't see anyone but Tesla insuring their driverless Cybercabs...The Cybercab owner bogey to beat is just 34%, as you can see from the attachments...

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I'd be surprised if there was not some insurance-claim incidents against any Cybercab that are unsupervised. eg. at a stoplight or whatever.

scottf200 said:

I'd be surprised if there was not some insurance-claim incidents against any Cybercab that are unsupervised. eg. at a stoplight or whatever.

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There may be, but much like vandals find out about the sentry mode cam footage later, I think word will get around that the cameras are always watching...If the Cybercab does something wrong and damages another vehicle, then the claim is valid. But if people think they can do some sort of insurance fraud, I'm not sure that will go over well...

Wow 9 miles cost almost $30 bucks.

MJTESLA said:

Wow 9 miles cost almost $30 bucks.

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Yes, it was 1:00 am, so a little higher-priced. But, as you can see, it is divided roughly into thirds: One third for insurance, one third for Uber and one third for the driver (me). I happen to drive a Model 3 and have solar at home as well as a cheaper 12 cent super off peak charging price, so my fuel costs are low. I've spent $550 on maintenance over 2 years and 80,000 miles. Total science experiment on my part to understand ride sharing and I've learned a lot. I could probably write a book...

But imagine a gas car driver getting 25 mpg or so with that ride. About a half gallon of gas or more (a driver would have to drive TO that pickup, then drive the 9 miles and then they would have to drive back to the late night hot spots for more rides), all their time and vehicle costs for just under $10. It's hardly worth it for the driver, yet many are driving and accepting those Uber fares (for now)...The Uber forums are loaded with dissatisfied drivers...Many longer term drivers say that the driver fares used to be much better. It won't take much to disrupt the Uber business model...

RandyS said:

There may be, but much like vandals find out about the sentry mode cam footage later, I think word will get around that the cameras are always watching...If the Cybercab does something wrong and damages another vehicle, then the claim is valid. But if people think they can do some sort of insurance fraud, I'm not sure that will go over well...

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I think disabling via traffic cones on hoods/windshields and maybe cooking oil on camera window area have been used for Waymo so non-destructive things. I've seen mention of it on socials.

Yes, those type of things definitely have happened and probably will happen to the Cybercabs. Hopefully, the car will stop driving and send a message to the owner ASAP when visibility is reduced so it can be cleaned or retrieved.

I wish I could be a beta tester with Tesla on their app and software because there are so many features that I think are necessary from the driver / owner perspective as far as car behavior, what the car does between rides, blackout areas where I don't want the car to go, management tools, calling it "Back home", etc etc etc.....