Uber reported strong second-quarter results, with gross bookings and net profit both up decently. But the company has chosen to highlight the success of its autonomous vehicle effort, likely to assuage investors concerned about incoming competition from Tesla, which aims to reveal its first robotaxi in October.
Uber said in its second-quarter results statement that the number of trips performed by autonomous vehicles rose 6x from a year earlier — up from what the company didn’t say. And, the first thing Uber highlighted in its presentation deck was AVs in a section titled, “Autonomous Vehicle Spotlight.” It detailed how the ride-hail and delivery giant has the right utilization, consumer experience and go-to-market expertise to “drive the greatest value for AV partners.”
Tesla CEO Elon Musk has repeatedly described Tesla’s future robotaxi network as having a similar business model to Uber and Airbnb, where Tesla owners could add their properly equipped vehicles to the carmaker’s own ridesharing app. In places where there aren’t enough people to share their cars, Tesla would provide a dedicated fleet of robotaxis.
Uber noted in its investor deck that having a hybrid network of autonomous and human drivers “enables consistent, high-quality and reliable consumer experiences across all geographies, 24/7.”
The company began partnering with Waymo, Alphabet’s autonomous vehicle subsidiary, in October 2023 to offer robotaxi rides in Phoenix. That progressed to autonomous deliveries in the city in April.
Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi said on Tuesday’s earnings call that he’s confident Uber will be able to “acquire AV content…on a global basis.”
“The fact is, this is not turning out to be a winner-take-all market,” continued Khosrowshahi. “Originally, I think that was the concept, and why Uber wanted to develop the technology itself.”
Uber has had a checkered past with AV development, one that’s been tainted by trade secret theft allegations and a fatal accident. The company began its AV journey in 2015 with a strategic partnership with Carnegie Mellon University’s National Robotics Center, which became Uber Advanced Technologies Group (ATG). A year later, Uber acquired a self-driving truck startup called Otto — a startup founded by one of Google’s star engineers, Anthony Levandowski, along with three other Google veterans — and then subsequently shuttered its trucking tech unit to focus on self-driving cars.
Bringing Otto on board resulted in Waymo accusing Levandowski of stealing trade secrets, which were then used by Uber. The case ended in a settlement in 2018, and the following year, Uber spun out Uber ATG after closing $1 billion in funding from Toyota. In 2020, Uber sold off the subsidiary to autonomous vehicle startup Aurora Innovation.
Now, Uber’s plan is firmly based in partnering with other AV companies, which is in line with the company’s broader asset-light business model.
Khosrowshahi noted Tuesday that every OEM is investing in some sort of L2 or L3 technology (advanced driver assistance systems that can handle some automated driving tasks). He also said that Uber thinks there will be many AV providers as newer imitation learning technologies take hold and create a “new wave of AV” at a “substantially lower capital cost than was necessary historically.”
“If there are many, many AV providers, the marketplace — and our marketplace is by far the largest global marketplace, from a mobility, delivery and then freight, as well — the marketplace will have a very, very strong position,” said Khosrowshahi.
Uber did not share how many autonomous trips it has performed in the second quarter or over the past year, but its count doesn’t just fall to robotaxis.
The company has also partnered with sidewalk delivery robot companies Serve Robotics and, more recently, Cartken to deliver food autonomously on the Uber Eats network.
Uber is also counting autonomous freight shipments in the total AV trip count. The company partnered with AV trucking company Waabi in September 2023, and the two companies have been doing commercial pilots between Dallas and Houston with a driver behind the wheel for the last 11 months. More recently, Uber Freight signed a multiyear deal with Aurora Innovation, another AV trucking startup, that will see the latter’s autonomous driving tech being offered on the Uber Freight network through 2030.
None of the companies with active Uber partnerships — Waymo, Waabi, Serve — responded immediately to provide comment.
Uber said it would announce more details on its AV plans in the coming months.
That could include its recent deal with BYD to bring 100,000 new EVs onto the platform in Latin America, Europe, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. The tie-up will give drivers discounts on BYD vehicle purchases or rentals, and the two companies will also collaborate on “future BYD autonomous-capable vehicles” to be deployed on Uber’s platform.
“BYD has committed to very, very significant investments in the AV space,” said Khosrowshahi on Tuesday’s earnings call. “And judging from what they have accomplished in the EV space, I would make a bet on them in AV, as well.”
In June, BYD announced a $14 billion investment in autonomous vehicle technology.
Investor response to Uber’s results has been positive. Uber’s shares were up 6% in premarket trading at the time of writing, and are climbing back to levels it traded on last Thursday, before the broader stock markets tumbled.
Uber also reported better-than-expected gross bookings in Q2, which rose 19% to $39.95 billion, slightly higher than the $39.7 billion predicted by analysts. In adjusted terms, Uber recorded net profit of $1.57 billion, again ahead of the $1.5 billion that analysts projected. Uber also said quarterly operating profits hit a record.
Uber forecast third-quarter bookings between $40.25 billion to $41.75 billion, and said it expected headwinds to the tune of $400 million due to the recent strengthening of the dollar compared to other currencies.
This article has been updated to reflect comments Uber’s CEO Dara Khosrowshahi made during Tuesday’s earnings call, as well as more context about Uber’s history with autonomous vehicles. The article was originally published at 5:20 a.m. PT.
