Ride-hailing service Uber has decided to invest $500 million into an ambitious global mapping project to wean itself off dependence on Google Maps and pave the way for driverless cars, the Financial Times reported on Sunday.
The San Francisco-based company is ramping up spending in new technologies such as mapping and driverless cars following new investments into the company earlier this year.
Uber’s head of mapping, former Google Maps exec Brian McClendon, described the initiative as a “doubling down on our investment in mapping.” McClendon announced that Uber’s own mapping cars—similar to those used by Google—will expand this summer from the U.S. to Mexico, and after that to other countries.
Uber currently relies on a mix of mapping technology and data, including Google’s and its own, to direct its drivers. But as McLendon points out, the generic data gathered by the likes of Google is in some cases superfluous (ocean topography), and in other cases inadequate for Uber’s particular needs—such as data on specific pickup and dropoff locations.
Perhaps just as important, the relationship between Uber and Google remains complicated, at best. Google’s Ventures arm was an early investor in Uber, with a stake that has been speculated to be about 7%.
But the two companies have some competing priorities, and keep each other decidedly at arms length. Google’s Waze unit actually partnered with Uber competitor Lyft earlier this year. For good measure, Waze rolled out its own pilot ride-sharing service, though it’s focused on carpooling, not taxi hailing.
