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The relationship between Alphabet and Uber is diverse and increasingly controversial. The carpool company filed its S1 today before its IPO. A number of details about the relationship have been revealed, including Uber's use of Google Maps and the Waymo threat.
The standard section of S1 that identifies various business risks includes Google Maps, Uber considering the mapping service "essential for the functionality of our platform".
We do not believe that there is an alternative mapping solution that can provide the global functionality we need to deliver our platform in all the markets in which we operate.
Uber signed for the first time a "framework contract" with Google in October 2015 and spent $ 58 million over three years.
From January 1, 2016 to December 31, 2018, we paid Google a total of approximately $ 58 million under this agreement. Such an agreement remains in force.
On the other hand, Google has paid $ 3.1 million to Uber to promote Android / Google Pay in the carpool app. This promotional agreement began in January 2017 and is still in effect.
At the same time, Alphabet is an effective beneficiary of more than 5% of Uber's outstanding share capital. In 2013, Google Ventures – now GV – invested $ 258 million in Uber and got a seat on the board in exchange. In addition, to settle the Waymo lawsuit in 2018, Uber granted Alphabet 0.34% of the capital, for a valuation of 72 billion dollars or 245 million dollars.
In 2013, the companies did not have conflicting relationships. Google only worked on autonomous vehicles and Uber focused solely on the carpool service. Relationships began to crumble in 2015 when it appeared that Google could launch a competing service. This increased competition has led David Drummond, Senior Vice President of the Alphabet, to leave the Uber Board of Directors in 2016.
Uber identifies Waymo as a threat on two linked fronts. The first is Alphabet's leader in autonomous driving technology, and the second is the autonomous driving service that results. However, CEO Dara Khosrowshahi is willing to integrate Waymo's autonomous vehicles into the carpool service.
We are also competing with OEMs and other technology companies for the development of autonomous vehicle technologies and the deployment of autonomous vehicles, including Waymo, Cruise Automation, Tesla, Apple, Zoox, Aptiv, May Mobility, Pronto.ai, Aurora and Nuro, whose offerings may prove more effective than our autonomous vehicle technologies. Waymo has already introduced a fleet of self-driving vehicles, and it is possible that our other competitors will introduce autonomous vehicle offers sooner than we will.
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