Investment bank Evercore ISI's analyst Mark Mahaney predicts that shareholders would be keen for an update on Uber Technologies Inc.'s (NYSE:UBER) autonomous roadmap ahead of the ride-hailing giant's third-quarter earnings call.
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Autonomous Partnerships To Be Key
Mahaney predicted that autonomous partnerships would be key for the company's stock value to surge during an interview with Yahoo Finance on Monday.
"The test for Uber," Mahaney said, would be to showcase that multiple AV companies can partner with the company to have their Robotaxis on its platform, "in different cities and different markets."
Mahaney highlighted Uber's successful partnership with Alphabet Inc.'s (NASDAQ:GOOGL) (NASDAQ:GOOG) autonomous driving company Waymo in Atlanta as a precedent for the ride-hailing company.
"That's the specific news I think investors would be listening for: what's the Robotaxi update?" Mahaney said. He also predicted that the market was still unsure about AI and autonomous driving for Uber. "The market isn't quite certain about what AI means to the future of Uber," Mahaney said, highlighting Uber's growth rate and cash flow.
"We don't know that it's not gonna be Waymo's world," Mahaney said. He outlined Tesla Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) as a potential leader, too. "Tesla could still come out and really shock people in the markets. So there may actually be a closing window of opportunity for Uber," he said.
Mahaney added that he did not think the window of opportunity for Uber working with different AV vendors was being counted into the stock value, saying it would've been "40-50% higher" than its current value.
Uber's Nvidia Partnership, Dara Khosrowshahi's Prediction
The comments come as Uber recently announced a partnership with chipmaker Nvidia Corp (NASDAQ:NVDA), targeting over 100,000 autonomous Robotaxis by 2027 using Nvidia's autonomous driving stack with both hardware and software components.
Uber also has a Robotaxi deal in place with Lucid Group Inc. (NASDAQ:LCID), which aims to deploy over 20,000 Robotaxis across major cities in the U.S. over the next six years, starting with Las Vegas in 2026.
Meanwhile, Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi predicted that most vehicles on the road would become autonomous in the next 20-plus years, comparing driving to a leisurely activity like horseback riding.
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