Uber’s product chief on hotels, robotaxis, and why the company doesn’t want to be “everything for everyone”
Uber Chief Product Officer Sachin Kansal walks TechCrunch through the company's financial-services ambitions, its increasingly complicated relationship with Waymo, its new AV Labs data operation, and how AI is starting to show up in ways riders and drivers will actually notice.
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Uber's product chief discusses the company's expansion beyond ride-hailing and delivery into hotels, boat rentals, financial services for drivers, and other offerings. The company is developing a separate fleet of sensor-equipped vehicles through a unit called AV Labs to gather driving data, which it frames as strengthening relationships with autonomous vehicle partners while also providing leverage and optionality in a competitive landscape. Uber states it is not trying to be "everything to everyone" despite these expansions, instead focusing on travel as a major use case for its users and pursuing deep integrations with partners like Expedia rather than building every service independently. The company has achieved profitability in its delivery business and sees cross-selling between different service lines as members increase their usage across rides, food delivery, and travel products.
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