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    Elon Musk Says Robotaxis Are Tesla’s Future. Experts Have Doubts.

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    Tesla says self-driving taxis will power its growth, but the company hasn’t said when such a service would be ready or how much it would increase profits.As sales of its electric cars have fallen, Tesla and its chief executive, Elon Musk, have sought to convince Wall Street that the company’s future lies not in the grinding business of making and selling cars but in the far more exciting world of artificial intelligence.In Mr. Musk’s telling, one of Tesla’s main A.I.-based businesses will be driverless taxis, or robotaxis, that can operate pretty much anywhere and in any condition. Tesla is very close to perfecting such vehicles and will easily secure regulatory approval to put them on roads, Mr. Musk said last week on a conference call to discuss the company’s second quarter results.Mr. Musk’s vision of autonomous vehicles, or A.V.s, is not limited to cars that drive themselves. He has also claimed that individuals who buy Teslas would be able to make money when they are asleep or at work by letting the company use their cars as robotaxis.The robotaxi service will, Mr. Musk has said, catapult Tesla’s stock market valuation, around $700 billion now, into the trillions of dollars.But first, a lot will have to go right.His idea would require major advances in technology and fundamental changes in the way people view cars. The experience of driverless taxi services like Waymo and Cruise in Phoenix, San Francisco and other cities raises questions about when such offerings will become profitable and how much money they will make.Tesla’s technology will face stiff competition from Waymo, a subsidiary of Alphabet, the parent company of Google; ride-hailing services like Uber and Lyft; and Amazon’s self-driving business Zoox. Carmakers including General Motors, which owns Cruise, are also pursuing autonomous driving, along with Chinese tech and auto companies like Baidu and BYD.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Uber Earnings Disappoint Amid High Legal Bills, Weak Rider Demand

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      The company has racked up bills after long-running legal fights with regulators and cabdrivers.Uber reported earnings on Wednesday that disappointed investors, as mounting legal bills and weaker ride demand in some parts of the world led to a shortfall compared with analysts’ forecasts.Uber recently settled a lawsuit brought by Australian taxi drivers and is facing a new one from cabdrivers in London. Some regulators have also challenged the way it classifies workers, which shields it from providing drivers with some benefits.The company also cited softer-than-expected demand and took a hit because some of its investments had lost value during its latest quarter.Uber’s operating profit in the first quarter was $172 million. That was up from a $262 million operating loss in the same period last year but still less than half of what analysts had expected for that measure. It also recorded a net loss of $654 million for the quarter, worse than the $157 million last year and also far weaker than what analysts had expected.Uber’s shares dipped more than 7 percent in early trading.The ride-hailing app, which was founded in 2009, reported its first full-year profit as a public company last year, but it has sometimes struggled to grow at a pace that satisfies investors. As it moves into other areas, like freight and food deliveries, regulatory challenges have made growth tricky. Its main rival, Lyft, reported higher-than-expected earnings on Tuesday amid stronger demand.Uber’s gross bookings — which is the amount of money Uber collects from a ride, meal delivery or freight shipment — rose 20 percent from a year ago, to $37.7 billion, coming in slightly below analysts’ expectations.Uber is working to grow its restaurant delivery arm, Uber Eats. The company announced on Tuesday that it would partner with Instacart, allowing users of the grocery delivery app to order from restaurants through Uber Eats.Even with that partnership, the company still intends to expand its Uber Eats delivery capacity into grocery stores and retail, Dara Khosrowshahi, Uber’s chief executive, said in a statement on Wednesday. By allowing Instacart users to order through Uber Eats, the ride-hailing app can expand its base in key areas like the suburbs, he said, and better compete with rivals like DoorDash. More

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      New York Is Failing to Meet Wheelchair-Access Goal for Cabs, Suit Says

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      Officials had committed to making sure that 50 percent of the city’s taxi fleet could accommodate wheelchair users by 2023. A lawsuit says they have fallen short.Advocates for New Yorkers with disabilities have sued taxi regulators for falling short of complying with a legal settlement that required half of the city’s licensed taxis to be wheelchair-accessible.The suit argues that taxi regulators have shown that they have “no intention of even attempting” to meet the goal.On Wednesday, the group of advocates, which includes four nonprofits, filed a motion in U.S. District Court in Manhattan urging a judge to order the city to meet the requirement. Only 42 percent of active taxis can accommodate wheelchair users.“It is so disheartening that the city doesn’t want to be more than 50 percent accessible,” said Dan Brown, an attorney representing the plaintiffs. “The fact that they haven’t met the goal is really beyond disappointing and sad.”Jason Kersten, a spokesman for the city’s Taxi and Limousine Commission, said in a statement that the commission is “committed to accessibility.”“When you factor in our entire fleet, we now have almost three times the number of accessible vehicles than we did five years ago,” Mr. Kersten said. “We will keep working to make our fleet even more accessible.”We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More