Self-driving robotaxis and delivery robots are already on America's streets. Scaling them up, however, will require a significant amount of money.
Investors got a reminder of that this week when Uber, Lyft, and DoorDash reported quarterly earnings. A common topic was each company's plans for autonomous vehicles — and, to varying degrees, how much they'll need to invest to make them common sights across the US.
The most notable example came when delivery company DoorDash reported results on Wednesday. It said it plans to spend "several hundred million dollars more" than previously planned on key initiatives, including its autonomous delivery technology, in 2026.
DoorDash's autonomous delivery efforts include Dot, a stroller-sized robot launched this year that can navigate itself across bike lanes and sidewalks to make deliveries.
"This is not something that's going to happen overnight," CEO Tony Xu said on an earnings call Wednesday. "It does require making investments upfront."
DoorDash's stock fell 17% on Thursday — the biggest one-day drop in its history — after the company unveiled its spending plan.
The CEOs of the major ride-hailing services also said that they need to invest more in robotaxis to expand those operations and make money from them.
Lyft, which has a partnership with Waymo, for instance, is planning to build a depot in Nashville to charge, service, and store cars available to Lyft riders there. The depot is expected to cost between $10 million and $15 million to build, CFO Erin Brewer said on Lyft's earnings call on Wednesday.
The upfront cost is necessary for the self-driving cars to operate smoothly, CEO David Risher said on the call.
"You've got to invest in some physical infrastructure, but we like the unit economics there a lot," he said.
Dara Khosrowshahi, CEO of Uber, said on an earnings call Tuesday that self-driving cars are a money-losing venture for the company right now. However, over time, Uber plans to invest in expanding the availability of driverless cars for its users, aiming to increase demand from riders, he said.
It's the same model Uber has used in the past and plans to use in several areas of growth, from robotaxis to Moto, which offers trips on motorbikes in some foreign markets, Khosrowshahi said.
"We can turn those products profitable if we want it tomorrow, but it's about the balance of investing in profitability and growth," he said.
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