A draft bill in Washington DC to allow autonomous vehicles to operate on the road is becoming a key pilot for Uber's overall driverless taxi strategy. Uber is no longer just investing in and cooperating with driverless taxi R&D companies; it is also trying to lead the formulation of relevant industry regulations. This move directly antagonizes it with its business partner Waymo. Uber opposes the bill, saying that this new regulation will squeeze the employment space of licensed online ride-hailing drivers, essentially making Waymo a monopoly on the industry. According to reports, Uber is lobbying to require driverless taxis to be connected to online car-hailing scheduling platforms equipped with human drivers. Waymo, which is part of the Alphabet Group, supports the bill, saying that it can not only guarantee the safe implementation of autonomous vehicles, help the development of public transportation, ensure the fairness of travel rights and interests, and balance the interests of workers, but also does not set restrictions on companies such as Uber. If Uber's lobbying succeeds and Washington and other regions adopt the hybrid dispatch platform program, autonomous driving companies like Waymo have only two options: connect to third-party online car-hailing apps such as Uber to undertake dispatch services, or build their own operating platforms, and recruit separate human drivers to simultaneously launch online car-hailing services in addition to the unmanned vehicle fleet that cost hundreds of millions of dollars and took years to develop. According to Uber, if Waymo pushes for the bill to be successfully implemented, Uber itself will be completely squeezed out of the local autonomous mobility market.

Disclaimer:Webull uses external vendor Google Translation Service for news translations where we endeavour to ensure these are correct, however, we recommend that you please double-check this information accordingly. Webull is not responsible for translation errors or issues.