Google is one of Uber’s biggest investors, but soon, it may also be a fierce competitor.
Bloomberg’s Brad Stone reported on Monday that Google, which invested $258 million in Uber a year-and-a-half ago via Google Ventures, is building its own ride-hailing service that would directly compete with Uber. Google employees are reportedly testing an in-house ride-sharing app, and given the company’s development of driverless cars that could one day shuttle passengers around town, an Uber-like app starts to make a lot of sense.
Bloomberg notes that Google’s Chief Legal Officer, David Drummond, has been on Uber’s board of directors since 2013 and may soon be asked to resign given Google’s plans for an Uber competitor.
In related news, TechCrunch reports that Uber is opening up a robotics lab and hiring people from Carnegie Mellon to develop technology related to “autonomous taxi fleet development.” Uber CEO Travis Kalanick said last year that he would “love to have driverless cars at Uber.”
A potential clash between Uber and Google, although somewhat surprising, was predicted by people like Dan Primack at Fortune and Jessica Lessin at The Information late last year. The two companies worked have worked together over the past several years, with Uber using Google Maps data in its apps, and Google featuring Uber in its Google Maps app.
Oddly, after Bloomberg Business tweeted out Stone’s story, Google’s Twitter account responded with this:
@business We think you'll find Uber and Lyft work quite well. We use them all the time.
— Google (@Google) February 2, 2015
Let the self-driving-car-hailing-app battle begin.
Update, 9:10 p.m. — The Wall Street Journal is out with a report tonight that notes how a potential rivalry between the companies “has been blown out of proportion.”
