Doubling its investment

By Colin Windell

 

News agency Reuters has reported Uber will double its investment in Freight over the next year – this in reaction to earlier reports its was abandoning its autonomous commercial vehicle research business.

According to news reports, Uber Technologies is creating a standalone business out of its long-haul trucking business, Uber Freight, with plans to double its investment in the unit to drive growth ahead of a much-anticipated initial public offering.

Uber Freight is essentially a high-tech brokerage service using a driver-friendly app that was set up in May 2017 for truck drivers and fleet managers looking for cargo to haul across the continental United States.

In a statement Uber said Freight’s growth was promising and the business is doubling the number of loads it connects with truckers every quarter.

A core element of the new business is the rehiring of Lior Ron, a co-founder of autonomous truck start-up, Otto, which was acquired by Uber in 2016 in order to jumpstart its own autonomous truck research work.

Ron left Uber in March along with other former Otto executives. However, a newly negotiated deal on his return to Uber Freight will give that business unit more autonomy to make acquisitions or strategic investments.

Uber stressed Freight was a key area of investment leading up to Uber’s initial public offering planned for next year.