Uber Unveils Ambitious Plan to Turn Human Drivers into Sensor Grids for Self-Driving Companies

Uber has a long-term ambition that goes beyond shuttling passengers: the company wants to outfit its human drivers' cars with sensors to collect real-world data for autonomous vehicle companies. This plan was revealed by Praveen Neppalli Naga, Uber's chief technology officer, at TechCrunch's StrictlyVC event in San Francisco.

Equipping Human Drivers' Cars with Sensors

The ambition is to equip human drivers' cars with sensors to collect real-world data for autonomous vehicle companies. For now, AV Labs relies on a small, dedicated fleet of sensor-equipped cars that Uber operates itself, separate from its driver network. However, the company wants to expand this program to include millions of drivers globally, transforming their cars into rolling data-collection platforms.

"That is the direction we want to go eventually," Naga said. "But first, we need to get the understanding of the sensor kits and how they all work. There are some regulations — we have to make sure every state has clarity on what sensors mean, and what sharing it means."

The Limiting Factor for AV Development

The insight driving the program is that the limiting factor for AV development is no longer the underlying technology. "The bottleneck is data," Naga said. "[Companies like Waymo] need to go around and collect the data, collect different scenarios. You may be able to say: in San Francisco, 'At this school intersection, I want some data at this time of day so I can train my models.' The problem for all these companies is access to that data, because they don't have the capital to deploy the cars and go collect all this information."

Becoming the Data Layer for the AV Ecosystem

Becoming the data layer for the entire AV ecosystem is a pretty smart play, particularly considering Uber abandoned its own ambitions to build self-driving cars years ago. Many industry observers have wondered if, without its own self-driving cars, Uber might be rendered irrelevant as AVs increasingly spring up around the globe. The company currently has partnerships with 25 AV companies and is building what Naga described as an 'AV cloud': a library of labeled sensor data that partner companies can query and use to train their models.

Democratizing Data Access

"Our goal is not to make money out of this data," Naga said. "We want to democratize it." Given the obvious commercial value of what Uber is building, that positioning may not last long. The company has already made equity investments in numerous AV players, and its ability to offer proprietary training data at scale could give it significant leverage over a sector that right now depends on Uber's ride marketplace to reach customers.

Uber's Strategic Move

When you consider Uber's past ambitions and current partnerships, it becomes clear that this move is a strategic one. By becoming the data layer for the AV ecosystem, Uber is solidifying its position in the industry and positioning itself for potential future growth.