The proverb “iron sharpens iron” could ring true for China’s EV trade.Dara Khosrowshahi praised Chinese language EV fashions on the latest episode of Nikhil Kamath’s podcast, “Individuals by WTF,” calling them “unbelievable.””The innovation popping out of the Chinese language OEM and EV enterprise — I’ve by no means seen something prefer it,” Khosrowshahi mentioned.Automakers like BYD have helped China dominate the worldwide EV market, placing stress on American corporations like Tesla and Ford. In June, Ford CEO Jim Farley mentioned Chinese language EV fashions’ in-vehicle expertise, price, and high quality have been “far superior” to these within the West.
A BYD Sealion 7 on show at an airport in Warsaw, Poland, in February 2025.
Aleksander Kalka/NurPhoto/Getty Photos
When requested why Chinese language producers have been outpacing their friends, Khosrowshahi credited native competitors.”Each important Chinese language metropolis or province desires their very own EV firm to succeed,” Khosrowshahi mentioned. “In China now, there are over 100 OEMs, so there’s this bottom-up competitors that is primarily based on the top-down technique that the federal government units.”Khosrowshahi mentioned it is “one of the best of each worlds.”
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“You could have industrial coverage, however then the winners aren’t who’s buddies with the president. The winners are who wins in a brutal, aggressive atmosphere,” Khosrowshahi mentioned. “So, the winners popping out of China — the Geelys of the world, the BYDs — they have been by way of the wringer. It truly is survival of the fittest, and the innovation that we see and the velocity of growth there, it is extraordinary.”Representatives for Khosrowshahi at Uber didn’t reply to a request for remark from Enterprise Insider.Underneath Khosrowshahi, Uber has inspired its drivers to embrace EVs as a part of its sustainability efforts. In July, Uber invested $300 million into the automotive firm Lucid, which manufactures the Gravity EV. Lucid will make the autos used as Uber’s robotaxis.Uber partnered with Waymo, Alphabet’s robotaxi service, in 2023 after promoting its personal autonomous automobile division three years earlier. Riders in Phoenix have been the primary to entry Waymo Driver by way of Uber’s platform, but it surely has expanded to Austin and Atlanta this yr. Waymo received permission to start out testing its self-driving autos in New York Metropolis final week.
