Uber is not developing its own robotaxis again; instead it plans to collect and offer data. It's a bet that more volume will help autonomous vehicle partners solve the weirdest edge cases.

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Uber is launching AV Labs, a new division that will collect real-world driving data for its 20+ autonomous vehicle partners like Waymo and Waabi. Rather than developing its own robotaxis, Uber will deploy sensor-equipped cars to gather data that helps partners solve edge cases through reinforcement learning. The company plans to offer this processed data for free initially, believing that advancing AV technology benefits the entire ecosystem more than monetization. Starting with one prototype vehicle, Uber aims to scale to hundreds of employees within a year and leverage its presence in 600 cities for targeted data collection.

Uber launches an ‘AV Labs’ division to gather driving data for robotaxi partners