Uber Technologies chief executive Dara Khosrowshahi has said that while the firm is "very happy" with its Uber Eats business it is talking to many players around the world, and not ruling out reports the technology firm could bid for UK food delivery rival Deliveroo.
Reuters reported that Khosrowshahi told reporters in London on Tuesday: "Is something going to happen with Deliveroo? Who knows."
READ: Just Eat off the menu on reports Uber wants to gooble up Deliveroo
At the end of last month, Bloomberg reported that Uber had started talks about a potential takeover of Deliveroo, though these were at an early stage with Deliveroo’s management and investors said to be reluctant.
Uber has been pushing its own food delivery plans hard ahead of its planned IPO next year and Deliveroo would instantly add scale in Europe to the Uber Eats operation.
A funding round in 2017 valued Deliveroo at more than $2bn but any bid would have to be pitched much higher to have a chance of success, said the report. Deliveroo now operates in eleven countries and in more than 100 cites.
The Uber boss also told the reporters that the privately-owned US firm has plans for every car on its taxi app in London to be fully electric in 2025 and said it will add a clean air fee to each trip from early next year.
Self-driving moves
And responding to a media report that said Uber was seeking to sell minority stakes in its self-driving car business Advanced Technologies Group, Khosrowshahi reportedly commented: "It's going to be part of the family and how the capitalisation looks like is something that we are ultimately open to but it is not an area of focus right now."
Earlier this week, UK taxi firm Addison Lee and driverless car group Oxbotica announced that they have joined forces to take on their ride-hailing rival and offer self-driving taxis in London by 2021.
READ: Addison Lee to take on Uber by deploying driverless cars in London by 2021
The two companies said on Monday that Oxbotica would start digital mapping more than 250,000 miles of public roads in and around London from next month, using its technology to create a thorough map.
The move will see Addison Lee compete with Uber, which announced in March an agreement with Japanese carmaker Toyota to develop an autonomous fleet.