How Uber’s new product chief is gearing up for robotaxis

Uber executive Sachin Kansal has a reputation for dogfooding — the tactic of using one’s own products and services to root out problems and make improvements. As he ascended Uber’s executive ladder over the past eight years, Kansal ratcheted up 700 trips delivering food or people to their destinations. Lengthy reports, often dozens of pages long and filled with screenshots of the app that documented his observations and what needed to be fixed, have become a Kansal trademark. As the company’s new chief product officer, Kansal has a new challenge that may put his dogfooding strategy to the test: integrating autonomous vehicles into the Uber app, including Waymo robotaxis in a high-profile launch that kicked off this week in Austin. “What does it mean to integrate with the platform? Because those are easy words to say,” mused Kansal, who was appointed to the CPO role in October after Sundeep Jain left. In practice, this means a technological matchmaking dance on the back end of the U ... Read full article.