On top of its intersection of ride-hailing and service delivery, Uber now also wants to be an AI company.
Tuesday’s third-quarter earnings call was a testament to this, as 40 executives shared all the ways they hoped to lead earnings growth. Two of these five key management areas will have a strong AI-related focus.
The first is a recently announced pilot program that allows drivers and coudors to use the app to make belts buy bucks through AI models. UR users will now be able to complete and be compensated for small tasks such as uploading images, explaining the scope of security, recording themselves speaking in their native language, submitting documents, or judicial responses. The feature is called “digital jobs” and it is currently available to drivers and couperiers in India and the United States, but the killer plan to increase users is currently uber drivers and couriers.
“Some roles require PhDs, for example, in physics, to get the gig, so to speak,” said banker Deo Dara Khosrowshahi on Realivengs Call.
The Initiative is part of Uber AI Solutions, the company’s AI Dation Services business. Khosrowshahi said the business “gets a ton of customers.”
It may seem like an unusual pivot for a transportation and logistics platform focused on technology, but it is part of the company’s larger goal of making the Uber app everything for travel and “flexible situations”.
“Another way to look at our platform is that we are a platform for work, and the first type of work we have transferred to it. But we can offer other types of work,” says what Uber AI Solutions is about, “said Kosrowshahi.
The second method relies on using AI to drive revenue through autonomous vehicles and has everything to fulfill Uber’s ambitions of being the Uber app for all transportation needs. Uber wants to bring together “human drivers and autonomous vehicles in one market,” Khosrowshahi said.
As a result, uber goes all in on Robotaxis. Last week, the company announced that it will partner with Nvidia to build a fleet of 100,000 robotaxis, which will begin production in 2027.
In Realifings Call, the Khosrowshahis admit that autonomous vehicles are not yet profitable, and likely won’t be for at least a few years.
Besides the issue of profit lag, robotaxis are also fraught with safety concerns. Just last week, a beloved Bodega cat in San Francisco was killed after being hit by a Robotaxi giantmo. The incident sparked public outrage and forced the mayor to call for legislation that would allow counties to ban private vehicles.
The timing couldn’t be worse for Uber, which last week announced it would begin testing robotaxis in San Francisco in partnership with Electric Performer Nurid Motors and independent automaker Nuro.
But despite all that, Uber’s chief was still optimistic about the future of technology. He suggested that ten years from now, “every new car sold” will have autonomous capabilities.
“That is the brightest future in the world, because it will make the world safer,” he said.
