Uber Reports Four Ai-agent Rides, But Outlets Differ On Timing
Uber disclosed minimal AI-agent activity, though TechCrunch and The Verge gave different timeframes for the four ride bookings.
Uber says AI agents are arranging almost none of the rides on its platform. Executives disclosed four AI-agent ride bookings and about 500 Uber Eats orders placed through agents, but reports differ on when the four rides occurred. TechCrunch places them in the week of Halloween; The Verge says they were recorded across the third quarter of 2026.
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What Uber disclosed
Speaking on Uber’s third-quarter earnings call, chief financial officer Balaji Krishnamurthy said the company handled around 320 million rides and Uber Eats orders during the week of Halloween, according to TechCrunch. About 500 Uber Eats orders that week came through AI agents. The Verge also puts the food-order figure at around 500 for that week, compared with 320 million combined transactions.
The accounts diverge on ride bookings. TechCrunch reports that agents ordered only four rides during the Halloween week, which it describes as Uber’s busiest week in October. The Verge reports that third-party agents arranged four rides during the entire third quarter. Neither report resolves that difference.
Why customers may still use the app
Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi characterized agent-driven activity as being at a very early stage and said he hoped it would grow, according to TechCrunch. He pointed to the speed of Uber’s existing app: booking a ride takes an average of 50 seconds, he said, while reordering a favorite food item takes 90 seconds. Those short tasks may leave agents with little time to save customers.
The Verge reports that Uber executives remain willing to work with outside AI companies while expecting customers to continue using Uber’s own services directly. It also notes that Uber has introduced an AI-powered Cart Assistant within Uber Eats that can assemble a grocery list from a recipe image or a text prompt.
A small test for AI agents
AI agents are designed to carry out tasks for users, including making purchases and bookings. Their limited activity at Uber offers an early measure of how often customers are using them for those transactions, rather than going straight to an app. The Verge frames this as a test of whether outside agents could eventually become the way customers reach services such as Uber.
Uber is not the only delivery platform reporting low volumes. TechCrunch says DoorDash disclosed that it had received only a few hundred orders from AI agents, with most customers still ordering through its app. Khosrowshahi nevertheless described agents as another potential route to Uber’s platform, according to TechCrunch. For now, the figures show interest from the companies but very little customer use.
Sources
This story was compiled by AI from the reports below. Read the originals for the full details.