Uber in Talks With Its Founder, Travis Kalanick, to Fund Self-Driving Car Deal
- In 2024, Uber is engaged in early discussions with co-founder Travis Kalanick about providing financial backing for his purchase of Pony.ai, a publicly traded autonomous vehicle company.
- These talks arise as Uber faces increasing competition from Waymo and Tesla robotaxi services expanding in U.S. cities like Austin and San Francisco.
- Pony.ai, founded in Silicon Valley and operating mainly in China, went public in 2024 raising US$260 million, though Uber's investment role remains unclear.
- Key figures in the automotive industry, including the head of the Alliance for Automotive Innovation, have expressed frustration with NHTSA's slow regulatory progress, while David Harkey from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety criticized the agency for its outdated approaches and insufficient urgency.
- The deal and legislative push highlight ongoing efforts to accelerate autonomous vehicle deployment amid regulatory delays and global competition, especially from China.
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Automakers want US to move faster on self-driving car rules - BusinessWorld Online
WASHINGTON – Major automakers want Congress and the Trump administration to move faster to make it easier to deploy autonomous vehicles without human controls as new robotaxi tests expand. Congress has been divided for years about whether to pass legislation to address deployment hurdles, while the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has not moved quickly to rewrite safety rules or allow exemptions for up to 2,500 vehicles without hum…


Automakers want US to move faster on self-driving car rules
By David Shepardson
·Colorado Springs, United States
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Total News Sources8
Leaning Left1Leaning Right2Center4Last UpdatedBias Distribution57% Center
Bias Distribution
- 57% of the sources are Center
57% Center
14%
C 57%
R 29%
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