Uber CEO Says Waymo Rollout ‘Not Impacting’ Business – Calls Autonomous Ride Hailing A $1 Trillion Opportunity

• Khosrowshahi also touted higher driver earnings in regions where autonomous ride-hailing services operate, while noting that more drivers are joining these platforms.
• He added that, when considering the markets where Waymo has launched its services, such as San Francisco and Los Angeles, Uber has the lead and that its share is higher now than it was six months ago.
• Khosrowshahi also stated that Uber has been successful in signing up partners for its AV ride-hailing platform because there is demand.

Uber Technologies Inc. (UBER) CEO Dara Khosrowshahi on Wednesday dismissed concerns about the impact of Alphabet Inc.’s (GOOG, GOOGL) Waymo on the company’s rollout of autonomous ride-hailing services.

During a post-earnings call with analysts, Khosrowshahi said that the autonomous vehicles (AV) market is large enough for multiple players.

“At this point we don't see any effect of the Waymo launches on our overall business. And we continue to see the performance of our businesses to be strong with Waymo in Austin, Atlanta,” he said.

Uber shares were up nearly 7% in Wednesday’s opening trade.

UBER CEO Touts Higher Driver Earnings

Khosrowshahi also touted higher driver earnings in regions where autonomous ride-hailing services operate, while noting that more drivers are joining these platforms.

He added that, when considering the markets where Waymo has launched its services, such as San Francisco and Los Angeles, Uber has the lead and that its share is higher now than it was six months ago.

“So this is an overall business that is of scale. The overall mobility business… we continue to see very, very healthy trends. And we don't see any signs of that abating at this point,” he added.

Khosrowshahi also stated that Uber continues to invest aggressively in AVs, citing partnerships with Nvidia, Zoox, and Nuro, among others.

Khosrowshahi Explains UBER’s Success In Signing Up Partners

Khosrowshahi stated that Uber has been successful in signing up partners for its AV ride-hailing platform because there is demand.

“We have shown that the utilization of these cars, which are very, very expensive on our platform, is higher,” he said.

He also talked up Uber's Autonomous Solutions platform, which helps its partners understand aspects such as fleet management and data, while adding that the AV ride-hailing market is worth $1 trillion.

“We think we're very early innings here and we're very excited about the AV trends that we're seeing,” he said.

UBER Partner Nuro Granted Driverless Permit

Meanwhile, Uber and Lucid Group Inc. (LCID) partner Nuro on Tuesday received approval from the California Department of Motor Vehicles to test Gravity robotaxis without a safety driver on the state’s public roads.

While the company held a driverless permit in California for six years, it has now been modified to include the Lucid Gravity now.

UBER Q1 At A Glance

Uber reported earnings per share (EPS) of $0.72 on revenue of $13.2 billion, while Wall Street expected an EPS of $0.69 on revenue of $13.3 billion, according to Fiscal.ai data.

The company’s gross bookings surged 25% year-on-year to $53.7 billion, and it expects them to touch $56.25 billion to $57.75 billion in the second quarter (Q2).

Uber forecasted EPS of $0.78 to $0.82 in Q2.

UBER stock is down 5% year-to-date, while GOOGL stock is up 26%. The S&P 500 ETF Trust (SPY) is up 28% over the past 12 months, while the Invesco QQQ Trust (QQQ) is up 40%.

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