Tinucci will begin on September 16 as international head of sustainability, in accordance with an inner firm announcement Tuesday obtained by Bloomberg News. She will report back to Andrew Macdonald, the highest govt in command of the corporate’s ride-hailing enterprise.
In the brand new function, Tinucci will oversee Uber’s transition to a zero-emissions platform. The firm is aiming for all of its rides and deliveries globally to be made utilizing zero-emission automobiles by 2040. It’s additionally working to remove pointless plastic waste from restaurant deliveries and to make use of extra sustainable packaging.
Tinucci’s expertise “might be an unbelievable asset to our staff at Uber,” Macdonald mentioned within the e mail to workers.
At Tesla, Tinucci helped ink charging-station offers with carmakers equivalent to Rivian Automotive Inc., Ford Motor Co. and General Motors Co. The partnerships allowed 1000’s of drivers to entry Tesla’s beforehand proprietary community of Superchargers, enabling the corporate to broaden that income supply.
“Rebecca is a extremely efficient chief, and because of the work of her and her staff, EV homeowners have larger entry to dependable and renewable charging,” mentioned Alan Wexler, GM’s senior vp for technique and innovation, who labored with Tinucci to place a charging settlement in place with Tesla.
Uber, in the meantime, is hanging its personal partnerships with electric-car makers, charging community suppliers and cities. The firm goals to make it simpler and more cost effective for thousands and thousands of ride-share drivers and supply couriers to transition to EVs.
It hasn’t been a wholly clean course of. Chief Executive Officer Dara Khosrowshahi warned earlier this 12 months that the corporate risked falling behind on its objectives. To additional the hassle, Uber lately introduced it was partnering with Chinese carmaker BYD Co. to place 100,000 vehicles on the ride-share platform exterior the US. Uber additionally led a $6.5 million seed spherical for itselectric, a Brooklyn, New York-based startup that plans to deploy curbside charging programs nationwide this 12 months.
Uber is trying to attain its zero-emissions goal within the US, Canada and European cities by 2030, with a worldwide objective of 2040. It nonetheless has a methods to go. As of the top of the primary quarter, Uber mentioned 8.2 p.c of ride-share journey miles within the US and Canada had been accomplished in zero-emission automobiles. The quantity was 9 p.c in Europe.
At Tesla, Tinucci oversaw the roughly 500-person Supercharging staff — a division that was slashed by Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk as a part of broader job cuts. The layoffs, which adopted disappointing first-quarter gross sales, got here as a shock as a result of Tesla had constructed an enviable charging enterprise.
Roughly a 12 months earlier than Musk dismissed Tinucci and far of her staff, she was considered one of simply two ladies who shared the stage with Musk at an investor day that showcased the bench of executives behind the CEO. Though Tesla rehired some members of Tinucci’s staff inside a matter of weeks, she did not return.
Tesla additionally has emerged as a possible rival to Uber. Investors are involved that Tesla’s deliberate robotaxi, prototypes of which Musk is about to unveil at an October occasion, could threaten Uber’s enterprise mannequin of paying unbiased contractor drivers to ferry round riders.
Khosrowshahi has downplayed these fears. He mentioned in an August earnings name that Uber might be “an indispensable associate” for all makers of autonomous automobiles.
In an announcement, Tinucci mentioned that Uber is on the middle of many applied sciences poised to “expedite a extra sustainable future.”
“Electric automobiles, autonomy and robotics maintain the potential to considerably cut back our collective emissions,” she mentioned. “Uber is poised to be an accelerator on this transition.”
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