Uber CEO Disagrees With Elon Musk’s Robotaxi Prediction

Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi said he disagrees with Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s assertion that a fleet of robotaxis will be ready by the end of 2020, according to a report by CNBC.

He does, however, agree that the future is going to be in electric cars, and also sharing.

“First of all, it’s got to be electric,” the CEO said. “We think that’s a no-brainer. It’s good for the environment. It’s where the world is going. And we’re playing our part, for example, in London to move it electric.”

Uber made its debut on the New York Stock Exchange on Friday (May 10), and its initial public offering (IPO) was priced at $45 a share.

Musk recently said he was ready to move Tesla into a new, driverless era, and that the company will have about a million cars that can act as driverless robotaxis by the end of 2020. Musk said self-driving tech and its adjacent services will help his electric car company reach a $500 billion market cap.

Khosrowshahi responded with his own thoughts about the issue.

“I thought: If he can do it, more power to him. Our approach is a more conservative approach as far as sensor technology and mapping technology. The software’s going to get there,” he said. “So I don’t think that his vision is by any means wrong. I just think we disagree on timing.”

Musk said that Tesla’s electric cars will be able to work 100 hours a week and generate tens of thousands of dollars in income for their owners. He also said he thinks that Tesla will win some upcoming regulatory battles for commercial robotaxi use.

Both companies have been testing autonomous technology, and both have seen fatal crashes from it.

“I think it will be quite a few years beyond,” the Uber CEO said.

Uber has a post-IPO market cap of more than $75 billion, and its post-IPO valuation, fully-diluted, is around $80 billion. Tesla’s current market cap is about $43 billion.