How Partnerships Influence Self-Driving Technology

I’ve been thinking about how the best companies grow and adapt. After years in high-growth companies, including Tesla, I've noticed a pattern in what creates business value, and what does not. Big corporate mergers consistently underperform, while focused partnerships often deliver surprising results. Why? Mergers fail because they solve the wrong problem. Combining two companies doesn't automatically combine their strengths - it often dilutes them. The collapsed Honda-Nissan merger is a perfect example. Putting two companies with similar challenges together rarely solves either one's problems. The real opportunity is in partnerships that connect different strengths without forcing companies to merge. Take Uber and Waymo's work on self-driving taxis. Each company stays independent, focusing on what they do best, while creating something together that neither could build alone. Uber brings its customer network and a decade operating mobility services at scale ; Waymo brings its self-driving tech that required billions of $ in R&D to invent and finetune. This results in a fast adoption in Austin and soon in Atlanta. This targeted partnership approach works better because: It targets resources exactly where new value is created, while still keeping the risks low and the upside high. If it works, great. If it does not, it is easier to stop and move on Each company maintains its speed and focus in what it does best Companies can adapt quickly as markets change It creates options rather than permanent commitments It preserves the unique cultures that drive each company's success The key question for business leaders isn't "who should we buy?" or its variant of “should we make or buy it?” but "what capabilities do we need access to to deliver something exceptional?" Understanding this difference is the key to performance and speed. What business problems have you seen companies try to solve through acquisition that might have worked better through targeted partnership?

🚗⚡ Uber's autonomous vehicle strategy is reaching a fascinating inflection point - especially considering they once spent hundreds of millions building their own robotaxis before selling to Aurora in 2020. Now they're back with a vengeance, and the urgency is palpable. 📈 The Waymo Reality Check: With Waymo now delivering 250,000+ rides weekly and expanding rapidly across multiple cities, the competitive pressure is real. This isn't theoretical anymore - it's happening at scale. ❓ The Question: Can Uber catch up? Does the strategy of integrating outside technology work when developing their own technology clearly didn't? 🔄 The Travis Comeback Story: Uber is in talks with former CEO Travis Kalanick to help fund his acquisition of Pony.ai's U.S. arm - eight years after his dramatic exit. Talk about plot twists in the mobility space. 💰 The $300M Premium Play: Just last week, Uber invested $300 million in Lucid and committed to deploying 20,000+ luxury Gravity SUVs equipped with Nuro's autonomous tech over six years. First vehicles launch in 2026 in a major US city. 🚐 The VW Retro Move: They're also deploying thousands of electric autonomous VW ID. Buzz minivans (yes, the iconic microbus is back) starting in LA, with 480 vehicles arriving next year and potential orders up to 10,000. 🌍 Global Expansion: Meanwhile, they're partnering with Baidu to scale internationally beyond the U.S. market. ⚠️ The irony? While Uber builds this autonomous empire (again), short sellers are questioning the legitimacy of key players in the space: Grizzly Research recently alleged that Pony.ai falsified data for its autonomous vehicle software and that management was actively covering up the issues - timing that couldn't be more awkward for potential partnerships. 🎯 What's clear: After investing heavily in their own self-driving tech and ultimately pivoting to partnerships, Uber is now making bold bets across multiple fronts: with Waymo pulling ahead of the pack, the window for a competitive response may be narrowing. ⚖️ The Bottom Line: Platform vs. Product. Distribution vs. Technology. Will Uber's massive rider network triumph over Waymo's superior autonomous tech? The next 18 months will be telling: we'll find out whether Uber's push was an act of desperation or a well-timed move. 💭 What's your take on this multi-pronged approach? Smart diversification or too many moving parts (no pun intended)? #AutonomousVehicles #Mobility #Truckl #Innovation #Transportation

Interesting to see some of the media coverage of the Waymo–Toyota Motor Corporation partnership press release being framed as “bringing self-driving tech to personal vehicles...” If you actually read the carefully worded press release, especially the final line, it’s crystal clear: this is about “incorporating their (Toyota) vehicles into our ride-hailing fleet.” That’s the operative phrase — #fleet, not #private #ownership. Note: this isn’t a pivot. It’s a hedge. Expanding Waymo’s network of #OEM collaborators (beyond Zeekr Technology Europe and Hyundai Motor Company (현대자동차)) to grow a diversified, branded ride-hail fleet. And that’s a smart move in a #mobility market where #partnerships matter and #supplychains are fragile. It also tracks to the larger trends that I've also been emphasizing based on work from our Autonomous Vehicles and the City Initiative including: 1. A continued shift toward shared mobility 2. The emergence of new fleet operations models 3. Opportunities in labor and workforce transformation 4. Growth of “people-miles traveled” (PMT) as metric (as opposed to VMT/VKT) 5. Back-of-house business innovation in vehicle charging, maintenance, durability, data, dispatch, customer service, fleet logistics, etc... even battery swaps and recycling long-term. ***(note: edited the numbers above after posting because apparently I can't type bulleted numbers...LOL.)*** The vehicle may still be the icon — but the real action is likely in future systems and services. #Waymo #Toyota #AutonomousVehicles #FleetManagement #Mobility #SharedMobility #SmartCities #AV University of San Francisco School of Management University of San Francisco University of San Francisco (USF) College of Arts and Sciences