Uber teams up with Chinese robotaxis, bucking the split

Outside the US, Uber scales its driverless taxi services through the help of Chinese partners

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Welcome to the inaugural issue of Reading the Waves, where we highlight tech trends beyond Silicon Valley by chatting with people on the ground. To learn why we started this project, read About.

Uber scales abroad through Chinese partnerships

In the scorching desert cities of the Gulf, Chinese robotaxis are quietly steering Uber’s future and challenging the notion that US and China tech are drifting apart.

The long-promised robotaxi future finally feels within reach outside the US. As with the broader AI industry, China and the US are leading the self-driving race. Hundreds of Waymo vehicles now roam San Francisco streets, while in major Chinese cities, passengers can choose from a handful of different robotaxi providers.

But the most intriguing autonomous vehicle developments this month are happening outside both superpowers—US-China tech collaboration continues in self-driving. The catalyst? Uber, which recently announced partnerships with multiple Chinese autonomous vehicle companies in a row: Momenta on May 2, WeRide on May 5, and Pony.ai on May 6.

We spoke with three C-level executives at these robotaxi companies to understand what's driving these collaborations. In essence, Uber is responding to competitive pressure from unmanned taxis. Rather than developing its own self-driving tech, Uber is building a platform-agnostic marketplace for various service providers. At home, for instance, it’s already partnered with Waymo. As Uber looks for partners abroad, the presence of Chinese AV firms looms large.

Common ground in foreign lands

For now, Waymo and Uber are allies—Waymo gains distribution while Uber secures a reliable supplier. But Uber isn't putting all its eggs in one basket. Waymo's rapid growth—now providing over 100,000 paid rides weekly across three cities—presents a clear threat to traditional ride-hailing.

Meanwhile, Uber's investment portfolio company Cruise remains sidelined following incidents that led to its indefinite suspension in San Francisco and funding cuts from General Motors. Uber's response is a platform-agnostic route: onboard a range of AV services to build a moat around self-driving.

Many of those partners turned out to be Chinese. Over the last few years, Chinese AV firms have been foraying into foreign turf. While the domestic market offers enormous scale and regulatory support, it’s also competitive, with challenging traffic conditions complicated by reckless food delivery riders, cyclists and dense populations.

We learned that, unlike Uber, China’s ride-hailing giant Didi, which absorbed Uber’s China operation in 2016, is developing AV tech in-house instead of seeking partners.

Alliances like those between Uber and WeRide/Momenta/Pony would be hard to foster in either the US or China alone, where geopolitics and national security concerns complicate cross-border collaboration. Partnerships are particularly tricky in a field that involves seas of sensitive geographic data. But the Uber news shows that third countries still provide a viable common ground to work together.

Chinese robotaxis go global

Generative AI and AI agents alike may be the talk of the town today, but over the past few years, self-driving has quietly advanced, achieved real-world implementation and started generating revenue. China’s AV upstarts in particular have steadily pushed abroad, each targeting different geographic regions, now supporting Uber in its AV expansion.

WeRide: Founded in 2017, WeRide started trading on NASDAQ last October, becoming the first Chinese AV firm to go public. It’s established a significant presence in the UAE, where it secured the country’s first national AV license in 2023. Most recently, WeRide became the first to remove safety drivers from test fleets in the country.

Already jointly operating in Abu Dhabi—Uber’s first AV launch outside the US— Uber and WeRide will expand their partnership to 15 more cities over the next five years, including European cities. Indeed, WeRide’s reach also extends to Europe, where it launched a pilot in Switzerland in January and began testing unmanned shuttle buses in France in March.

Pony.ai: Founded in 2016, Pony went public in the US just a month after WeRide. Pony will likely help Uber strengthen its position in Saudi Arabia, where it’s built significant ties. In October 2023, NEOM, an ambitious desert development of Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, invested $100 million in Pony through its NEOM Investment Fund.

Momenta: Founded in 2016 and preparing to list in the US, Momenta has the strongest European connections among its Chinese rivals. Its investors include Daimler, Mercedes-Benz's parent company, and Bosch, a major automotive supplier. Momenta chose Stuttgart, Germany, as its European backyard, also home to both Mercedes-Benz and Porsche.

Uber and Momenta will launch their joint service in Europe as early as 2026.

Baidu, also namedropped in Uber's earnings call as a partner but without an official announcement yet, plans to bring its Apollo Go service to Turkey and Europe—potentially creating another opportunity for Uber to expand.

Also worth noting: The Middle East's oil-rich governments have been welcoming foreign players that can enhance their smart infrastructure, and Chinese companies promptly recognized the potential. Beyond autonomous vehicles, Chinese electric vehicle manufacturers like BYD, Nio, Zeekr and Xpeng have been shipping models to the UAE and Saudi Arabia. (Let us know if you’re interested in this regional dynamic, and we’ll do more reporting.)

Other trends that caught our eye

*AI agents are Silicon Valley’s latest obsession, and again, the space is dominated by US and Chinese startups. Currently, the differentiation between US- and Chinese-made agents appears to be their focus, less so their tech capabilities. Globalizing Chinese startups, like Manus, are shipping all-purpose agents while US teams focus on more vertical use cases. This likely mirrors the countries’ industry success in the past—China’s preference for all-in-one consumer apps and the US dominance of SaaS.

*The AI companies present at SaaStr, the annual enterprise software extravaganza from last week, were strikingly similar. Within just the generative art vertical, there were likely a dozen products with little noticeable differentiation. The big question is—what’s their actual retention rate? (Let us know if you want to read more about it.)

Thanks for reading! We welcome your thoughts in the comments or via email (write@firstrobin.com). 🌊

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