Uber is giving up on self-driving cars — they just won’t admit it yet
https://medium.com/@parismarx/uber-is-giving-up-on-self-driving-cars-they-just-wont-admit-it-yet-565e25f7b989
Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi maintains that the company is committed to its autonomous-vehicle program — most recently while speaking with Kara Swisher at the Code Conference on May 31 — but he said the same about not leaving international markets after SoftBank’s investment in late 2017, then announcing a deal with Grab to offload its Southeast Asian operations only a few months later.
While Khosrowshahi won’t admit it, the company’s reaction to the fatal Arizona collision in March and its recent emphasis on expanding Uber’s focus beyond its ride-hailing business to include a broader suite of transportation offerings suggest it’s leaving behind the passion project of disgraced cofounder Travis Kalanick and embracing the alternative vision of its new management team — and that means the failing autonomous-vehicle project is on the backburner.