Uber invests in driverless technology

News on the street is that taxi industry enemy number one Uber is partnering with the University of Arizona (UoA) in the United States to further its research into driverless car technology.

Not content with merely shaking up the transport industry, reports suggest that Uber donated around US$25,000 to the university, specifically to the College of Optical Sciences. Lens design is a big part of the autonomous vehicle technology, as the company aims to improve image capture. They’ve also done a deal with Google, committing to the purchase of 2500 of the tech giant’s autonomous vehicles. As part of that deal, Uber will share local transportation data with Google that will, in turn, be used to improve autonomous car-routing algorithms.

The United States seems more open to the change that Uber represents, with the state of Arizona pledging permission for the company to test drive their self-driving vehicles on the streets of Tucson (presumably on the back of the UoA deal). Back in Australia, the company is busy fighting the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) regarding appropriate tax rates for the sharing economy, which apparently no-one saw coming.

Uber is challenging the ATO based on the fact that they are applying legislation drawn up in 1999 to businesses operating in 2015. It will be interesting to see how this pans out.

Meanwhile, overseas (and specifically in the US), Uber is recognised as a company that should be helped, rather than hindered. Rather than being regarded as an unwanted and unexpected challenger to established industry protocols, the US sees Uber as a creator of jobs and driver of important technological advancement. It just goes to show that there really are two sides to every coin.