Uber says it is putting $10 billion into driverless cars

Uber is putting $10 billion into driverless cars, and its Nov. 4 third-quarter report attached a fleet schedule to the money. The company expects about 700 fully driverless vehicles on its network by the end of 2026 and more than 2,000 by the end of 2027, split roughly evenly between the U.S. and the rest of the world.

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Both numbers come from a company that does not build robotaxis. Uber assembles them from partners, and the quarter’s results showed why it can afford to keep writing checks: gross bookings rose 20% to $59.8 billion, and free cash flow came in at $2.5 billion. The open questions are how fast partners can build and deploy vehicles, how much of the spending lands on Uber’s balance sheet, and whether the largest robotaxi operator, Waymo, stays inside the network.

The $10 billion pledge first made on the August earnings call

The dollar figure predates this month’s report. Automotive World reported on Aug. 6 that Uber committed more than $10 billion over the next few years to its robotaxi aggregator strategy, announced on the Aug. 5 second-quarter call, and that shares fell 4.8% after a profit forecast missed Wall Street expectations. Chief executive Dara Khosrowshahi called Waymo a very important partner on that call while noting a growing field of newer players.

TechSpot’s account tied the same $10 billion to a target of deploying 120,000 autonomous vehicles and robotaxi service in at least 15 cities during 2026. It named chief financial officer Balaji Krishnamurthy among the speakers and described the outlay as fundable from the core business’s cash generation, with no outside source named.

Automotive World’s account carries more detail on the August pledge: at least 35,000 robotaxi-ready vehicles ordered from Lucid and Nuro, at least 1,200 robotaxis planned in the Middle East by 2027, seven live services with up to 15 targeted by the end of this year and 28 by 2028, and deals or investments with more than 30 companies over two years. Khosrowshahi also said deployment should be slower and more deliberate than the early hype implied, a caution that the November schedule reflects.

Seven hundred vehicles by year-end, two thousand a year later

In the November prepared remarks, Uber’s own earnings remarks document says the company is on track for roughly 700 fully driverless vehicles by year-end and more than 2,000 in 2027. The document contains no new dollar figure for autonomy, and it frames the fleet in vehicles and cities rather than spending, so the $10 billion stands as the August commitment that InsideEVs, in its Nov. 4 report, linked to the 2,000-vehicle goal.

InsideEVs adds the geography: about half of the 2,000 are slated for the U.S., the rest spread across Europe, Asia and the Middle East, covering around 20 cities by end-2027. Partners, it says, have committed to bring 120,000 robotaxis to the platform in the coming years, with no timeframe attached. Uber also expects nearly 200 fully driverless cars in the United Arab Emirates by year-end. The prepared remarks point to other near-term launches, including Zoox in Las Vegas, followed soon by Motional, and a Nuro and Lucid service in the Bay Area planned for the first quarter of 2027.

Waymo’s exclusivity clock and the partner shortlist

The partner list is long: Zoox, Motional, Nuro, Lucid, Avride, NVIDIA, Rivian, WeRide, Baidu, Pony.ai and Wayve all appear in the remarks, along with a stated plan to concentrate resources on a smaller group with the clearest paths to scale. Uber also reports that U.S. autonomous partners generate about 30% more trips per vehicle per day than its first-party deployments, a utilization gap that helps explain the tilt toward partner-built fleets over vehicles Uber operates itself.

Waymo is the awkward one. Co-chief executive Tekedra Mawakana told Bloomberg that the Uber app arrangement was, in her words, “a little bit of a crapshoot,” because riders never knew whether a robotaxi or a human driver would show up. InsideEVs reports that Waymo plans to end its exclusivity with Uber in Austin and Atlanta in January 2028. Waymo has about 4,000 vehicles across 15 U.S. cities, and Semafor’s reported goals of 8,000 by end-2026 and 20,000 by end-2027 would keep it well ahead even if Uber hits its own marks.

Balance sheet first, outside capital later

Funding is the open question. InsideEVs says Uber will pay for the fleet from earnings and may need third-party capital once its self-driving fleet exceeds 10,000 vehicles. Krishnamurthy’s section of the prepared remarks describes financing structures for autonomous fleets and supporting infrastructure that could bring in outside money, with details promised over the coming months and no dollar amount disclosed.

The quarter itself gives the bet some cushion. Uber’s results release shows 4.1 billion trips, 215 million monthly active consumers, $1.4 billion in GAAP operating income and $10.1 billion in cash and short-term investments, set against a fourth-quarter gross bookings forecast of $63.25 billion to $65.25 billion. Whether $10 billion buys 2,000 vehicles on schedule, or merely 700 plus a roster of partners, is the number to watch in the next report.

This article was produced with the assistance of AI and reviewed by Morning Overview editors prior to publication.

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