Uber CEO brushes off reports of a Waymo break-up

Uber 首席执行官否认与 Waymo 分手的传闻

Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi said the relationship with Waymo remains “strong,” despite signs that the two companies may be drifting apart. Uber 首席执行官达拉·科斯罗萨西（Dara Khosrowshahi）表示，尽管有迹象表明两家公司可能渐行渐远，但与 Waymo 的关系依然“稳固”。

After Uber and Waymo ended their partnership in Phoenix earlier this year, experts and robotaxi watchers wondered whether the companies’ improbable bromance was fraying. Not so, Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi said today. The two companies are committed to continue working together in Atlanta and Austin, and the partnership remains “very strong.” 在今年早些时候 Uber 和 Waymo 终止了在凤凰城的合作后，专家和自动驾驶出租车观察人士纷纷猜测，这两家公司之间这段“不可思议的友谊”是否正在破裂。但 Uber 首席执行官达拉·科斯罗萨西今天表示，事实并非如此。两家公司承诺将继续在亚特兰大和奥斯汀开展合作，且双方的伙伴关系依然“非常稳固”。

“Waymo is a very important partner of ours, and we continue to operate in Austin and Atlanta,” Khosrowshahi said in an earnings call today. “We believe we’ll continue to operate next year in those marketplaces. It’s a terrific product, and the on-the-ground partnership continues to be very strong.” “Waymo 是我们非常重要的合作伙伴，我们目前仍在奥斯汀和亚特兰大开展运营，”科斯罗萨西在今天的财报电话会议上说道。“我们相信明年将继续在这些市场运营。这是一个非常棒的产品，我们在当地的合作关系依然非常稳固。”

There’s been plenty of evidence that points to a weaker relationship than Khosrowshahi would like to admit, like Uber’s CTO tweeting about a “scary Waymo moment” and an Uber white paper that emphasizes a hybrid model of human- and robot-powered rides over an AV-only model. Last month, the two companies found each other on opposite sides of a bill in Washington, DC, that would legalize robotaxi services, with Waymo supportive and Uber pushing for a hybrid model. 有大量证据表明，双方的关系并不像科斯罗萨西所承认的那样紧密。例如，Uber 的首席技术官曾在推特上提到一次“令人后怕的 Waymo 经历”，且 Uber 的一份白皮书强调了“人类驾驶与机器人驾驶相结合”的混合模式，而非纯自动驾驶模式。上个月，两家公司在华盛顿特区的一项旨在将自动驾驶出租车服务合法化的法案中立场相左：Waymo 表示支持，而 Uber 则力推混合模式。

Khosrowshahi didn’t address any of those incidents, but did note that Waymo isn’t Uber’s only robotaxi partner. 科斯罗萨西并未回应上述任何事件，但他指出，Waymo 并非 Uber 唯一的自动驾驶出租车合作伙伴。

“We want to make sure that we’re not dependent on one partner,” he said on the call. “We’re absolutely seeing a plethora of newer players in the AV ecosystem, just like you see in the foundation model space. While we continue to provide a great service with Waymo in Austin and Atlanta, we’ll continue to build our services with our other players as well.” “我们希望确保自己不会依赖单一合作伙伴，”他在电话会议上表示。“我们确实看到自动驾驶生态系统中涌现出大量新玩家，就像你在基础模型领域看到的那样。虽然我们继续与 Waymo 在奥斯汀和亚特兰大提供优质服务，但我们也会继续与其他参与者共同构建我们的服务。”

Indeed, Uber has made a big to-do about linking up with a variety of AV partners, including Zoox, Wayve, Avride, Nuro, Motional, and Waabi. Basically, if you’re a startup with some autonomous driving experience and a few vehicles in the field, chances are you’ve received a call from Uber. The company has said it plans on spending upwards of $10 billion to build out its robotaxi business over time. 事实上，Uber 一直在大张旗鼓地与各种自动驾驶合作伙伴建立联系，包括 Zoox、Wayve、Avride、Nuro、Motional 和 Waabi。基本上，如果你是一家拥有一定自动驾驶经验且有少量车辆在路上行驶的初创公司，那么你很可能已经接到了 Uber 的电话。该公司表示，计划在未来投入超过 100 亿美元来打造其自动驾驶出租车业务。

But Waymo is really the only one doing it at scale. And since the company has shown it can work in markets both with and without Uber’s imprimatur, it really seems like Uber needs Waymo more than vice versa. 但 Waymo 确实是目前唯一实现规模化运营的公司。鉴于 Waymo 已经证明了它无论是否有 Uber 的加持都能在市场上运作，看起来 Uber 对 Waymo 的需求似乎比 Waymo 对 Uber 的需求更大。

But while Khosrowshahi doesn’t sound ready to break up with Waymo any time soon, he also wasn’t willing to concede that robot-driven cars would quickly become the norm. In fact, Khosrowshahi’s next move was to downplay the significance of robotaxi rides on the company’s platform, noting that they only account for “less than 0.5 percent of our overall trip volume.” Physical AI — which is industry lingo for real-world AI like robots and driverless cars — is moving at a slower pace than large-language models like ChatGPT. And in time, a Waymo competitor may emerge to challenge the Alphabet-owned company’s dominance. 尽管科斯罗萨西听起来并不打算很快与 Waymo 分手，但他也不愿承认机器人驾驶汽车会迅速成为常态。事实上，科斯罗萨西随后淡化了自动驾驶出租车在公司平台上的重要性，指出它们仅占“我们总行程量的不到 0.5%”。物理人工智能（Physical AI，即机器人和无人驾驶汽车等现实世界人工智能的行业术语）的发展速度比 ChatGPT 等大语言模型要慢。假以时日，可能会有 Waymo 的竞争对手出现，挑战这家 Alphabet 旗下公司的统治地位。

“We have time to develop the partnerships with our other set of partners to create a competitive playing field with attractive commercials,” Khosrowshahi added. “我们有时间与其他合作伙伴发展关系，从而创造一个具有吸引力商业条件的竞争环境，”科斯罗萨西补充道。

Khosrowshahi’s reticence is understandable. Uber and Waymo may be partners in a couple of markets, but the companies are mostly competitors. And early data suggests that Waymo is taking away market share from traditional rideshare players like Uber and Lyft. The two companies may still need each other now, while robotaxis are in their infancy, but the future is more of an open question. 科斯罗萨西的谨慎是可以理解的。Uber 和 Waymo 可能在少数几个市场是合作伙伴，但两家公司本质上主要是竞争对手。早期数据表明，Waymo 正在从 Uber 和 Lyft 等传统网约车平台手中抢占市场份额。在自动驾驶出租车尚处于起步阶段的当下，两家公司或许仍需要彼此，但未来如何仍是一个未知数。