UX Researcher

Uber is bringing more robotaxis onto its platform through multiple announcements in the last week—the latest coming yesterday is a collaboration with autonomous vehicle (AV) company Pony.ai—as CEO Dara Khoshrowshahi said AVs are critical for the company's growth."We are confident that AV technology is the single greatest opportunity ahead for Uber. And we are laser-focused on bringing more partners and more AVs, in more places, onto the Uber platform," he wrote in the company's Q1 2025 earnings statement. The partnership with China-based Pony.ai is expected to launch in the Middle East later this year, with additional international markets to be added down the road, the companies said.Uber app users will have the chance to have a trip fulfilled by a Pony.ai autonomous vehicle once they are available on the platform. The vehicles will have a safety operator on board during the pilot phase.“At Pony.ai, our vision is to develop autonomous driving technology that is not only safe and reliable but also scalable, transforming daily transportation,” said James Peng, co-founder and CEO of Pony.ai. “Partnering with Uber accelerates our shared mission to make autonomous mobility a real, everyday experience for more consumers around the world. By combining our proven autonomous systems with Uber’s unparalleled ride-hailing platform, we’re poised to set a new standard for the commercialization of driverless services, starting in the Middle East before expanding to new markets.”

Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi predicted that robot drivers will replace human drivers at scale in 15 to 20 years in an autonomous future, as long as several factors fall into place in the meantime. “If you fast-forward 15, 20 years, I think eventually the cars are going to be autonomous…,” Khosrowshahi said during a session [] The post Uber CEO Says Robots Could Replace Human Drivers by 2040 appeared first on PYMNTS.com.

Google CEO Sundar Pichai testifies before the House Judiciary Committee at the Rayburn House Office Building on December 11, 2018 in Washington, DC.Alphabet , the parent company of Google and YouTube, is set to report first-quarter earnings after the bell Thursday.Here's what analysts are expecting.Revenue: $89.2 billion, according to LSEG$89.2 billion, according to LSEG Earnings per share: $2.02, according to LSEG$2.02, according to LSEG YouTube advertising revenue : $8.97 billion, according to StreetAccount: $8.97 billion, according to StreetAccount Google Cloud revenue: $12.27 billion, according to StreetAccount$12.27 billion, according to StreetAccount Traffic acquisition costs (TAC): $13.66 billion, according to StreetAccountGoogle finds itself at the center of an artificial intelligence arms race where its position may be threatened pending mounting regulation and competition from generative AI companies, including OpenAI and Anthropic. The company is also among those bracing for the potential impact from President Donald Trump's tariffs, which could result in a pullback in advertiser spending due to tighter budgets.Alphabet shares have dropped more than 17% in 2025 so far.Wall Street is expecting Alphabet to report 10% year-over-year revenue growth for the first quarter, which included a slew of AI announcements, its largest-ever acquisition, cost cuts and regulatory hurdles.In March, Google released Gemini 2.5, its "most capable" artificial intelligence model suite yet, and Gemma 3, the company's latest open model. The timing of Gemini 2.5 and Gemma 3 comes after DeepSeek in January released its R1 model, which caused a rift in Silicon Valley after the Chinese startup claimed its AI model was trained at a fraction of the cost of other leading models.Google AI chief Demis Hassabis told employees at an all-hands meeting in February that he was not worried about DeepSeek and that Google has superior AI technology."We're very calm and confident in our strategy, and we have all the ingredients to maintain our leadership into this year," Hassabis said, calming concerns from investors and employees alike. He added, however, he thinks the Chinese company is still "something to be taken seriously."Google this quarter also announced new personalization features for Gemini, allowing the chatbot to reference users' search histories, and users can also connect Gemini to other Google apps, including Calendar, Notes, Tasks and Photos.During the quarter, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang announced it would be partnering with Google's Gemini products, giving the company high praise."No company is better at every single layer of computing than Google and Google Cloud," Huang said.Alphabet also had a number of announcements in autonomous driving.In March, Waymo began offering robotaxi rides in Austin, Texas, through the Uber app and opened up a waitlist in Atlanta. Those markets are just two of several more expected expansions in the U.S. this year.Alphabet also made its largest acquisition ever in March when it agreed to buy Wiz for $32 billion in cash, almost $10 billion more than it offered for the startup in 2024, and said it expects the deal to close next year, subject to regulatory approvals