Uber CEO eyes growth in South Korea, to compete with market leader Kakao

Uber Technologies Inc. aims to expand its South Korean business and take the battle to dominant domestic rival Kakao, highlighting the country’s importance as one of the US company’s few remaining Asian markets.

Making his first official business trip to the Asian nation, Chief Executive Officer Dara Khosrowshahi talked about how Uber wants to add more taxi drivers to its platform to better compete with Korean internet services leader Kakao, which has more than 90 per cent of the market.

South Korea is one of the few Asian markets that Uber operates in, after pulling out from China and much of Southeast Asia. It first entered the Korean market more than a decade ago before withdrawing because of regulatory issues. But Uber then returned in 2021 by setting up a joint venture with SK Square Co. unit T Map Mobility Co. In March, they rebranded the venture Uber Taxi and the business has accelerated since, with the number of rides jumping almost 80 per cent in the first half of this year.

Kakao has “the majority of the market here in Korea. But the fact is that we are growing significantly faster than the market and we’re confident that our market share will only grow from here," Khosrowshahi told reporters in Seoul on Friday.

Khosrowshahi is touring Asia to meet with car manufacturers and technology providers, as he tries to position Uber as a partner to the future leaders of the autonomous vehicle industry. Some investors have voiced concerns over Uber’s prospects in this space, following Tesla Inc.’s announcement of a robotaxi unveiling in October.

Last week, Uber said it will begin offering Cruise LLC’s self-driving cars next year on its platform in the US. It’s teaming with Chinese firm BYD Co. on driving technology. And this week, it revealed an investment in driving software provider Wayve Technologies Ltd.

Uber isn’t developing its own self-driving tech — a costly endeavor that it explored previously and spent $1 billion on before ultimately choosing to divest. Instead, it’s shifting to a more cost-effective strategy of working with manufacturers to offer their self-driving cars to its ride-hailing customers.

Uber sold its self-driving research unit to startup Aurora Innovation Inc. in 2020, but the rideshare company has retained a minority stake of about $900 million to fund the development of fully-autonomous freight trucks, which Uber expects to launch later this year. It’s also working with self-driving players like Alphabet Inc.’s Waymo to launch its driverless taxi service in Phoenix.

“I was in China earlier this week, in Japan and now here, and I do think that the electric and autonomous future is dependent on a partnership with our manufacturers," he said.

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