Uber Reports Minimal Usage of AI Agents for Booking Rides Despite Industry Hype

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Uber reveals only four rides were booked via AI agents during its busiest week, highlighting early-stage adoption despite widespread enthusiasm for AI assistants.

Uber has disclosed that the use of AI agents to book rides on its platform remains extremely limited. During the company’s third-quarter earnings call, Uber’s executive team revealed that in the peak week of Halloween, only four rides were ordered through an AI agent. This figure is notably small in comparison to the total trip volume handled by Uber during that same period.

While Uber’s food delivery service, Uber Eats, saw a slightly higher number of AI-placed orders — approximately 500 during that week — these amounted to a very small fraction of total transactions. Uber handled around 320 million combined rides and food orders across Uber and Uber Eats in that timeframe.

CEO Dara Khosrowshahi described the AI-driven transaction volume as “very, very early” and showing “very limited traction so far,” although he remains hopeful about the future potential of AI agents in the company’s ecosystem. CFO Balaji Krishnamurthy emphasized that these low numbers indicate the infancy of consumer adoption for AI agents performing transaction tasks on Uber’s platform.

This revelation comes amid a significant surge of interest and investment in the broader AI agent landscape, where startups like Instinct and major corporations such as Meta have launched AI assistants aimed at facilitating tasks including shopping and other online interactions. Despite the buzz, public companies like DoorDash have similarly reported only modest usage of AI agents for order placement.

Khosrowshahi noted that booking a ride directly in the Uber app is already highly efficient, averaging just 50 seconds, with favorite food re-orders taking about 90 seconds. This efficiency likely contributes to slower AI agent adoption, as these digital assistants have yet to offer substantial time savings or convenience advantages.

Nonetheless, Uber views AI agents as a promising channel to engage customers and expects the number of AI systems integrated with its platform to grow beyond the current eight major assistants. The company is actively engaging with multiple AI providers as it explores the potential for AI agents to enhance its demand ecosystem and overall user experience.

In summary, while AI agents are gaining attention as transformative tools, Uber’s data illustrate that widespread consumer usage remains nascent, underscoring the transitional state of AI-driven task automation in real-world service applications.