UPDATED 20:57 EDT / JANUARY 31 2017

EMERGING TECH

Daimler to provide Uber with self-driving Mercedes-Benz cars

Uber Technologies Inc. has signed a deal with German automaker Daimler AG that will see Mercede-Benz vehicles joining Uber’s self-driving car fleet.

The terms of the deal were not disclosed. Nor was a timeline, only a commitment that the vehicle would be joining Uber “in the coming years.”

According to The New York Times, the deal is notable as it’s the first time a major automaker will provide its own self-driving vehicles built entirely in-house and without Uber’s help to operate on the ride-sharing company’s network.

Uber has previously signed supply deals with both the Ford Motor Company and The Volvo Group. But in both of those instances, Uber supplied the self-driving technology in conjunction with the partners.

“Auto manufacturers like Daimler are crucial to our strategy because Uber has no experience making cars—and in fact, making cars is really hard,” Uber Chief Executive Officer Travis Kalanick explained in a blog post. “Instead of building them ourselves, we want to partner with the best auto manufacturers in the world. We can combine Uber’s global ridesharing network with the world-class vehicles of companies like Daimler, so that Uber riders can have a great experience getting around their cities.”

While Uber may be either modest or realistic in admitting that it is unable to make its own cars, that hasn’t stopped it building self-driving car technology, some of which it’s already delivering to customers through a trial in Pittsburgh with tricked-out Ford Focus vehicles. A more recent attempt to test the vehicles in San Francisco hit regulatory hurdles when Uber declined to get approval from the California state government beforehand.

Competitor Lyft Inc. is not far behind Uber in the race to deliver a self-driving taxi service. It’s expected to begin trials later this year with General Motors Corp.

Image credit: Pixabay/Public Domain CC0

A message from John Furrier, co-founder of SiliconANGLE:

Your vote of support is important to us and it helps us keep the content FREE.

One click below supports our mission to provide free, deep, and relevant content.  

Join our community on YouTube

Join the community that includes more than 15,000 #CubeAlumni experts, including Amazon.com CEO Andy Jassy, Dell Technologies founder and CEO Michael Dell, Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger, and many more luminaries and experts.

“TheCUBE is an important partner to the industry. You guys really are a part of our events and we really appreciate you coming and I know people appreciate the content you create as well” – Andy Jassy

THANK YOU