1 00:00:02,520 --> 00:00:07,040 Speaker 1: Bloomberg Audio Studios, podcasts, radio news. 2 00:00:07,960 --> 00:00:11,440 Speaker 2: Lift and Weimo are partnering to bring self driving taxis 3 00:00:11,520 --> 00:00:14,360 Speaker 2: to Nashville. Customers will be able to request driver US 4 00:00:14,480 --> 00:00:18,000 Speaker 2: rides on both companies platforms, and Lift will provide fleet 5 00:00:18,040 --> 00:00:21,479 Speaker 2: management for Waimo's national operations. Let's get to more with 6 00:00:21,640 --> 00:00:24,160 Speaker 2: Lift CEO David Rischer. This is something you've been working 7 00:00:24,160 --> 00:00:27,440 Speaker 2: on for some time, that's right, and the state of 8 00:00:27,440 --> 00:00:30,720 Speaker 2: plays is very clear. Weimo also has a partnership with 9 00:00:30,800 --> 00:00:34,280 Speaker 2: Uber in different markets. You now have a partnership in Nashville. 10 00:00:34,640 --> 00:00:37,960 Speaker 2: Just explain the rationale for you on why this is 11 00:00:38,000 --> 00:00:40,199 Speaker 2: a great go to market for robotaxi. 12 00:00:40,640 --> 00:00:42,400 Speaker 1: Well, as you know, we've been saying for a while 13 00:00:42,440 --> 00:00:44,760 Speaker 1: we think self driving cars are going to be hugely 14 00:00:44,920 --> 00:00:47,920 Speaker 1: market expanding for ride share. It's a really good product. 15 00:00:48,120 --> 00:00:50,160 Speaker 1: And then when we looked at potential partners of course 16 00:00:50,159 --> 00:00:52,040 Speaker 1: Weimo has to be at the top of the list. 17 00:00:52,440 --> 00:00:55,160 Speaker 1: The great thing about this partnership is it does two things. 18 00:00:55,320 --> 00:00:58,280 Speaker 1: It supplies demand. So if you're in the self driving 19 00:00:58,280 --> 00:01:00,520 Speaker 1: car business, you've got to have demand. We got lots 20 00:01:00,520 --> 00:01:02,400 Speaker 1: of demand every single day, and we do it in 21 00:01:02,480 --> 00:01:04,840 Speaker 1: a very integrated way. But the other thing is, as 22 00:01:04,840 --> 00:01:07,440 Speaker 1: you just mentioned, it supplies fleet management, and that sounds 23 00:01:07,520 --> 00:01:09,600 Speaker 1: kind of geeky, but it's really important that every one 24 00:01:09,640 --> 00:01:12,080 Speaker 1: of those cars be ready to drive twenty four to 25 00:01:12,080 --> 00:01:13,920 Speaker 1: seven if needed, and that's something we're really good at. 26 00:01:13,920 --> 00:01:15,080 Speaker 1: We've been doing that for a long time. 27 00:01:15,440 --> 00:01:19,880 Speaker 2: So you're emphasizing the sort of capital light business model 28 00:01:19,920 --> 00:01:22,440 Speaker 2: for you, right. The counter argument is the Tesla or 29 00:01:22,440 --> 00:01:25,600 Speaker 2: the zooks one, which is control the full stack hardware 30 00:01:25,680 --> 00:01:31,039 Speaker 2: software operationally the app the consumer interfaces with. Would you 31 00:01:31,200 --> 00:01:33,679 Speaker 2: argue that you can scale this faster, going this route, 32 00:01:33,760 --> 00:01:34,959 Speaker 2: go to more cities quicker? 33 00:01:35,000 --> 00:01:38,399 Speaker 1: I would? Yeah. I mean this allows every company to specialize, right, 34 00:01:38,480 --> 00:01:42,000 Speaker 1: so waymo can really focus on providing great self driving technology. 35 00:01:42,000 --> 00:01:44,240 Speaker 1: The way Moore Driver is obviously a great product. They 36 00:01:44,280 --> 00:01:46,959 Speaker 1: partner with OEMs, the car manufacturers that can choose the 37 00:01:47,000 --> 00:01:50,080 Speaker 1: best car form, and then we can provide the fleet 38 00:01:50,120 --> 00:01:52,280 Speaker 1: management as they say, that keeps the cars clean and 39 00:01:52,400 --> 00:01:54,600 Speaker 1: charged and ready to go, as well as the demand 40 00:01:54,640 --> 00:01:57,440 Speaker 1: so that anytime a person wants a car, they can 41 00:01:57,440 --> 00:01:59,280 Speaker 1: get one, or they can get a driver car, right, 42 00:01:59,320 --> 00:02:00,960 Speaker 1: I mean they can get so it's I think it's 43 00:02:00,960 --> 00:02:02,000 Speaker 1: a great division of labor. 44 00:02:02,360 --> 00:02:05,440 Speaker 3: Let's talk about that fleet management flex drive because you're 45 00:02:05,440 --> 00:02:07,000 Speaker 3: going to be building, you're going to be putting some 46 00:02:07,040 --> 00:02:10,040 Speaker 3: cabal expenditure to work. David, Why does that make sense 47 00:02:10,080 --> 00:02:11,320 Speaker 3: and when will that be finished? 48 00:02:12,680 --> 00:02:14,919 Speaker 1: So we've been in the flex drive world. Let me 49 00:02:14,960 --> 00:02:17,600 Speaker 1: explain for a second. So about a decade ago, Lift 50 00:02:17,639 --> 00:02:20,919 Speaker 1: decided that for a certain type of driver, it really 51 00:02:20,960 --> 00:02:23,280 Speaker 1: makes sense to have cars that they can rent right 52 00:02:23,320 --> 00:02:26,919 Speaker 1: on the platform and they can do we can take 53 00:02:26,960 --> 00:02:30,200 Speaker 1: care of the maintenance and making sure that those cars 54 00:02:30,200 --> 00:02:32,760 Speaker 1: are always ready to drive. So that's what we've been 55 00:02:32,800 --> 00:02:35,120 Speaker 1: doing for about a decade now. So when we look 56 00:02:35,120 --> 00:02:37,160 Speaker 1: at the autonomous vehicle world, you know, look when you 57 00:02:37,240 --> 00:02:39,440 Speaker 1: see a car driving around the city, it looks like magic. 58 00:02:39,480 --> 00:02:40,880 Speaker 1: It looks like no one had to touch it. But 59 00:02:40,960 --> 00:02:42,920 Speaker 1: no someone had to charge it, someone had to clean it, 60 00:02:42,960 --> 00:02:45,120 Speaker 1: someone has to maintain it. Someone probably has to reboot 61 00:02:45,160 --> 00:02:47,040 Speaker 1: it from time to time. And we're really good at that. 62 00:02:47,120 --> 00:02:48,960 Speaker 1: So as you say we're building a new depot there, 63 00:02:49,000 --> 00:02:50,760 Speaker 1: we've got a small one. We're building a bigger one 64 00:02:50,800 --> 00:02:53,160 Speaker 1: for this partnership. And what it does is it allows 65 00:02:53,200 --> 00:02:55,760 Speaker 1: the cars to be ready to drive, ready to drive. 66 00:02:56,120 --> 00:02:58,799 Speaker 1: Think about so when you travel on an airline and 67 00:02:59,040 --> 00:03:00,760 Speaker 1: you know you know that of course they want the 68 00:03:00,800 --> 00:03:03,080 Speaker 1: airplane in the air, but they also needed to be 69 00:03:03,160 --> 00:03:05,320 Speaker 1: ready to fly at all times. They want that turnaround 70 00:03:05,320 --> 00:03:07,239 Speaker 1: to be super fast. And that's what flex drive does. 71 00:03:07,320 --> 00:03:09,399 Speaker 1: It means that people like WYMO can get the most 72 00:03:09,400 --> 00:03:11,079 Speaker 1: out of our asset, which is super good for them. 73 00:03:11,200 --> 00:03:14,800 Speaker 3: Look today, investors love this announcement and the shares a rising. 74 00:03:15,680 --> 00:03:17,560 Speaker 3: Shares have been doing well all year because you've had 75 00:03:17,600 --> 00:03:19,920 Speaker 3: three straight quarters of profitability. David, how are you going 76 00:03:19,960 --> 00:03:23,360 Speaker 3: to finance what is a little less asset like is 77 00:03:23,400 --> 00:03:26,959 Speaker 3: building these facilities to help keep all our auto cars clean. 78 00:03:27,880 --> 00:03:30,440 Speaker 1: Yeah. So, as I say, because we've been in the 79 00:03:30,480 --> 00:03:33,320 Speaker 1: flex drive business, the subsidiary business for a long time, 80 00:03:33,560 --> 00:03:37,040 Speaker 1: we've actually had capital deployed to that for a long time. 81 00:03:37,040 --> 00:03:39,840 Speaker 1: We have about twenty four locations in about fifteen different 82 00:03:39,880 --> 00:03:42,080 Speaker 1: states across the United States, which I think gives you 83 00:03:42,080 --> 00:03:44,640 Speaker 1: a sense of how this kind of partnership could scale 84 00:03:44,640 --> 00:03:47,120 Speaker 1: over time. And we own some of those cars ourselves. 85 00:03:47,200 --> 00:03:49,160 Speaker 1: Others of those cars are financed by other groups. So 86 00:03:49,360 --> 00:03:51,360 Speaker 1: the good news is this won't be a significant change 87 00:03:51,360 --> 00:03:54,080 Speaker 1: to the current strategy. It's just sort of a revectoring. 88 00:03:54,240 --> 00:03:57,080 Speaker 1: Let's say, of the money we spend more towards. 89 00:03:56,800 --> 00:04:00,120 Speaker 2: Autonomous okay, scale over time this morning, Bloomberg type you 90 00:04:00,200 --> 00:04:02,880 Speaker 2: some Marguerite Galleryini put this table together, you know the 91 00:04:02,920 --> 00:04:05,360 Speaker 2: table right It explains the roadmap from here. So let's 92 00:04:05,360 --> 00:04:08,160 Speaker 2: look at it together. This is twenty twenty six and 93 00:04:08,200 --> 00:04:12,080 Speaker 2: it focuses on Weimo principally. But there's you there, right, Nashville. 94 00:04:12,440 --> 00:04:15,760 Speaker 2: You are going to come up against suba in negotiating 95 00:04:15,800 --> 00:04:18,960 Speaker 2: with Weimo for cities that are not yet claimed for 96 00:04:19,400 --> 00:04:21,919 Speaker 2: What are the advantages that you're going to present to 97 00:04:22,000 --> 00:04:26,000 Speaker 2: win that business with Weimo against Duba and how much 98 00:04:26,040 --> 00:04:28,719 Speaker 2: you're gonna have to give up, you know, to get 99 00:04:28,720 --> 00:04:29,360 Speaker 2: a deal done. 100 00:04:29,600 --> 00:04:31,479 Speaker 1: Yeah, So I think the way I would look at 101 00:04:31,520 --> 00:04:34,200 Speaker 1: that is one of the reasons we were so called 102 00:04:34,360 --> 00:04:36,919 Speaker 1: patient in working through this deal because it took a while. 103 00:04:37,000 --> 00:04:39,240 Speaker 1: It was we wanted to come up with something that 104 00:04:39,360 --> 00:04:42,880 Speaker 1: is good for Weimo, good for Lyft, and good for riders, 105 00:04:42,960 --> 00:04:44,719 Speaker 1: and that's hard to do. It's hard to have, you know, 106 00:04:44,800 --> 00:04:46,760 Speaker 1: kind of a three away win. We feel really good 107 00:04:46,760 --> 00:04:48,400 Speaker 1: about it and feel like this is a great model 108 00:04:48,440 --> 00:04:50,239 Speaker 1: for us to expand to other cities in the future. 109 00:04:50,400 --> 00:04:52,760 Speaker 1: But look, city by city, you know, some places we're 110 00:04:52,760 --> 00:04:54,880 Speaker 1: actually going to compete with WEIMO itself, right because for 111 00:04:54,960 --> 00:04:56,719 Speaker 1: example here in San Francisco, they've got. 112 00:04:56,560 --> 00:04:58,720 Speaker 2: Their own appreciate that admission, Yeah. 113 00:04:58,480 --> 00:05:00,320 Speaker 1: Of course, So this is something we you have to 114 00:05:00,360 --> 00:05:01,919 Speaker 1: kind of recognize and say, how do we come up 115 00:05:01,960 --> 00:05:04,560 Speaker 1: with a construct that is really durable and frankly can 116 00:05:04,600 --> 00:05:06,760 Speaker 1: benefit all the companies and then the other guys will 117 00:05:06,800 --> 00:05:08,440 Speaker 1: do what they do and you know, we'll see who 118 00:05:08,440 --> 00:05:09,120 Speaker 1: does a better job. 119 00:05:09,279 --> 00:05:11,480 Speaker 2: Look, people are going to accuse me of wanting to 120 00:05:11,880 --> 00:05:14,080 Speaker 2: create a headline here, but it's a really important question. 121 00:05:14,400 --> 00:05:17,560 Speaker 2: Tesla and Zookes are committed to their own go to 122 00:05:17,600 --> 00:05:20,159 Speaker 2: market model. Right, we talked about they control the full stack. 123 00:05:20,680 --> 00:05:24,440 Speaker 2: But have you held discussions with both Tesla and Zoke's 124 00:05:24,800 --> 00:05:26,920 Speaker 2: to say, like, look, this is the model we're doing 125 00:05:27,000 --> 00:05:29,479 Speaker 2: with Weimo, we can do something similar. Do you see 126 00:05:29,760 --> 00:05:31,039 Speaker 2: that as being realistic? 127 00:05:31,600 --> 00:05:33,360 Speaker 1: So, of course I don't want to come in on, 128 00:05:33,440 --> 00:05:35,400 Speaker 1: you know, conversations we might be having. What I can 129 00:05:35,440 --> 00:05:38,760 Speaker 1: tell you is we're talking to everyone who finds the 130 00:05:38,880 --> 00:05:42,760 Speaker 1: partnership model interesting. You know, there are, of course always companies. 131 00:05:42,800 --> 00:05:44,840 Speaker 1: Whenever you see a new industry, you have some companies 132 00:05:44,880 --> 00:05:47,040 Speaker 1: that say I want to do it all, and frankly, 133 00:05:47,040 --> 00:05:49,080 Speaker 1: if you look back a couple of years ago, just 134 00:05:49,120 --> 00:05:51,240 Speaker 1: about every company in the self driving space was in 135 00:05:51,279 --> 00:05:53,800 Speaker 1: that zone. They wanted to do everything top to bottom. 136 00:05:54,080 --> 00:05:57,560 Speaker 1: I think over time most companies find, particularly when it's 137 00:05:57,560 --> 00:06:00,760 Speaker 1: capital intensive and quite complex, like rideshare and self driving, 138 00:06:00,839 --> 00:06:03,200 Speaker 1: is that a division of labor where everyone does what 139 00:06:03,240 --> 00:06:05,880 Speaker 1: they're good at is the best model. But we'll see, 140 00:06:05,960 --> 00:06:07,360 Speaker 1: you know, it's still such early. 141 00:06:07,160 --> 00:06:10,440 Speaker 3: Days, but you struck deals with interesting players in Europe, 142 00:06:10,440 --> 00:06:13,400 Speaker 3: I do, what's it like working with a Chinese giant? 143 00:06:13,440 --> 00:06:14,800 Speaker 3: What were those negotiations like? 144 00:06:15,880 --> 00:06:18,000 Speaker 1: You know? I actually, I'll tell you what was very interesting. 145 00:06:18,000 --> 00:06:20,479 Speaker 1: It came together fairly quickly, and in part I think 146 00:06:20,560 --> 00:06:22,640 Speaker 1: is you know, frankly, Chinese companies are kind of built 147 00:06:22,680 --> 00:06:25,320 Speaker 1: for speed, you know. They for those of you who 148 00:06:25,320 --> 00:06:26,640 Speaker 1: don't know, you know, by do you can sort of 149 00:06:26,640 --> 00:06:29,359 Speaker 1: think of them as kind of the Google or Alphabet 150 00:06:28,720 --> 00:06:32,360 Speaker 1: of China. They have many businesses, but self driving cars 151 00:06:32,360 --> 00:06:34,719 Speaker 1: are a very important one for them, and we committed 152 00:06:34,720 --> 00:06:37,080 Speaker 1: that we would roll out some of their technology in 153 00:06:37,320 --> 00:06:40,040 Speaker 1: one to two markets we would expect in Europe over 154 00:06:40,080 --> 00:06:42,240 Speaker 1: the next twelve months or so. It's still very early 155 00:06:42,360 --> 00:06:44,039 Speaker 1: days there, but I can tell you they've got really 156 00:06:44,080 --> 00:06:47,919 Speaker 1: high standards for their technology. We're super excited about working 157 00:06:47,920 --> 00:06:49,719 Speaker 1: with those guys, and we'll have more to say about 158 00:06:49,760 --> 00:06:51,640 Speaker 1: that next year once we start to roll out in Europe. 159 00:06:51,839 --> 00:06:54,320 Speaker 3: One minute, how hard is it to get to New York? 160 00:06:57,120 --> 00:06:58,719 Speaker 1: I mean I can take a flight there pretty easily. 161 00:06:59,520 --> 00:07:02,280 Speaker 3: Also, the ROBOTAXI how hot? When am I going to 162 00:07:02,360 --> 00:07:02,800 Speaker 3: have it here? 163 00:07:04,120 --> 00:07:05,760 Speaker 1: I love that? You know it's going to take a 164 00:07:05,800 --> 00:07:08,279 Speaker 1: little while. New York is a complex place to do business. 165 00:07:08,360 --> 00:07:10,320 Speaker 1: The streets are complicated. You know, there's a lot of 166 00:07:10,360 --> 00:07:12,320 Speaker 1: interest there. Look, you know this Caroline, I mean, Lift 167 00:07:12,360 --> 00:07:14,280 Speaker 1: has been there for many years. It's super strong in 168 00:07:14,280 --> 00:07:16,480 Speaker 1: New York. We also run the city bike program, as 169 00:07:16,480 --> 00:07:18,640 Speaker 1: you know, super excited to bring self driving there someday, 170 00:07:18,640 --> 00:07:20,320 Speaker 1: but that was probably gonna take a little while. Sorry 171 00:07:20,320 --> 00:07:21,520 Speaker 1: about that, you can have to wait for ale. 172 00:07:21,560 --> 00:07:23,480 Speaker 3: My addiction with the bikes will just have to continue. 173 00:07:23,560 --> 00:07:23,760 Speaker 1: Lift. 174 00:07:23,800 --> 00:07:26,480 Speaker 3: See David so as a joy to have you on 175 00:07:26,520 --> 00:07:27,440 Speaker 3: the show. Take care,