Elon Musk’s robotaxi vision: Could Tesla and Uber join forces? Uber CEO weighs in

Uber Technologies CEO Dara Khosrowshahi has expressed optimism about a potential partnership with Elon Musk-owned Tesla when the latter rolls out its robotaxis.

Khosrowshahi said nobody wants to compete with Tesla and Musk.

“No one wants to compete against Tesla or Elon if you can help it. Their capabilities are pretty extraordinary, but I think the same economic laws apply to them. Ultimately, if Tesla puts their cars on our network, we already have 150,000 drivers who are driving Teslas, and if they get FSD, they’d love to plug it into Uber as well,” Dara Khosrowshahi said during an interview with Ben Thompson, published in Stratechery.

Tesla’s robotaxi announcement

In October 2024, Elon Musk announced Tesla’s robotaxi during an event. In January 2025, the world’s richest person told investors during an earnings call that the company’s paid robotaxi service is set to launch in Austin in June 2025.

Earlier, Musk said he expects the company’s robotaxi fleet to operate like a hybrid of Airbnb and Uber. While Tesla will own a portion of the fleet, individual customers will be able to add or remove their vehicles at will.

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Dara Khosrowshahi believes Elon Musk’s company will benefit significantly from having its vehicles offer rides through Uber’s platform.

Khosrowshahi told Stratechery that having Tesla vehicles operate on both Uber and its own network would significantly boost revenue.

He highlighted that the same principle applies to the food business, as restaurants often use multiple delivery services to reach more customers.

Uber partnerships

This is not the first time Dara Khosrowshahi has expressed interest in partnering with Tesla. The company already collaborates with self-driving vehicle firms like Waymo and Wayve in the US, Business Insider reported.

Khosrowshahi hopes Tesla will deploy its autonomous vehicles — currently under development — on Uber’s platform for increased revenue.

According to Benzinga, Uber halted development of its self-driving cars in 2020 after selling its driverless car division to Aurora.

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The Uber CEO noted that the company lost billions developing robotaxis, which was “pretty scary.” He added that hardware was not its “superpower.”

FAQs

1. When will Tesla launch its robotaxi service?
Elon Musk recently announced during an earnings call that Tesla will launch its robotaxi service in Austin by June 2025.


2. Who are the competitors of Tesla’s robotaxi service?
Key competitors include Waymo and Wayve in the US.