Uber’s top executive, Sachin Kansal, is known for ‘eating his own dog food’, a practice that involves using one’s own products and services to identify issues and make enhancements.

Climbing up the corporate ladder at Uber over the last eight years, Kansal has embarked on 700 trips, delivering food or transporting people to their destinations. His detailed reports, often filled to the brim with app screenshots and observations, along with suggestions for improvements, have become synonymous with Kansal.

As Uber’s newly appointed chief product officer, Kansal faces an intriguing challenge that could test his dogfooding approach: integrating autonomous vehicles into the Uber app, including Waymo’s self-driving taxis, which started rolling out this week in Austin.

This integration will involve an intricate technological dance on the Uber app’s backend, triggered each time a user requests a food delivery or ride. The added complexity of autonomous vehicles means Uber’s marketplace, where matching and pricing decisions are made, will have to instantaneously decide whether a human driver or a robotic car should complete the service request.

Autonomous Vehicles on the Uber App

Uber, which initially set out to develop its own autonomous vehicle technology, has turned to partnerships to claim its stake in the burgeoning industry. To date, Uber has formed alliances with 14 autonomous tech firms worldwide.

In 2023, the company joined forces with Alphabet’s self-driving vehicle subsidiary, Waymo, to offer autonomous taxi rides in Phoenix. It has also partnered with sidewalk delivery robot companies Avride, Cartken, and Serve Robotics to provide autonomous food deliveries on the Uber Eats platform. Avride plans to roll out its self-driving taxis on the Uber app in Dallas later this year.

Kansal is at the helm of these autonomous vehicle product experiences, deciding how they will look and function within the Uber app. His next significant challenge has just arrived.

Waymo and Uber debuted their autonomous taxi service in Austin this week, marking a new phase in both companies’ autonomous vehicle strategies. The exclusive partnership, dubbed “Waymo on Uber”, allows users in Austin (and soon Atlanta) to hail a Waymo self-driving taxi exclusively via the Uber app.

Waymo will oversee vehicle testing, roadside assistance, and certain rider support aspects. Uber will manage fleet services such as vehicle cleaning, maintenance, inspections, charging, and depot operations through a firm named Moove Cars, which is rebranding to Avomo.

Importantly, Uber will take charge of the matching, pricing, and routing of the autonomous taxis. The balance between human drivers and robots could spark controversy. The Teamsters, a drivers’ union, openly opposes autonomous vehicles, fearing they could lead to job losses or reduced pay for human drivers.

Kansal, who played a key role in launching the Uber for Teens service, anticipates the autonomous vehicle program to evolve and improve with time.

“We’re going to learn a lot in terms of management and maintenance and charging of autonomous vehicles,” he stated. “We’re going to draw from our experience managing human-driven cars and apply it to autonomous taxis.”

Kansal expressed confidence in the “Waymo on Uber” service model and its use of a fleet operator, but hinted at the possibility of exploring other models in the future.

Uber’s Autonomous Vehicle Journey

Uber’s history with autonomous vehicle technology has been fraught with controversy. The company initially viewed autonomous vehicles as a race to the top, prompting it to create its own business unit.

Uber’s pursuit of autonomous vehicles began in early 2015, with a strategic partnership with Carnegie Mellon University’s National Robotics Center. However, the partnership led to Uber poaching a significant number of NREC researchers and scientists. The following year, Uber bought a self-driving truck startup called Otto, founded by Google veteran, Anthony Levandowski, resulting in legal battles with Google.

A fatal accident involving one of Uber’s autonomous test vehicles in March 2018 led the company to halt all testing. Uber eventually spun out its autonomous tech group, Uber ATG, after securing $1 billion in funding from Toyota, Denso, and SoftBank’s Vision Fund. The group was later sold to startup Aurora.

Despite these challenges, Uber has remained a firm believer in autonomous technology, as Kansal points out. Kansal hopes his dogfooding approach to autonomous taxis will lead to rapid and effective changes that will iron out any issues in its autonomous vehicle business. He is already putting this into practice, frequently travelling to Austin to ride in Waymo’s autonomous taxis.

Aiming for perfection, Kansal wants every single one of Uber’s million trips per hour to be flawless.