I watched a windowless car pull up to the curb and someone on the street mutter, “They’ve had their fair share of issues.” You felt the mix of curiosity and unease—convenience on one side, questions on the other. I want to show you why that friction will shape Uber’s next decade.
Dara Khosrowshahi says Uber will commit over $10 billion (€9.3 billion) of capital in the coming years to bring autonomous vehicles to market at scale. The company already lists AVs on its app in seven cities, aims for as many as 15 by year-end, and plans operations in 28 cities worldwide by the end of 2028 — a fourfold jump in under three years.
On a wet evening in Austin, the app offered an autonomous ride and a man asked whether a machine could replace his livelihood
That question is the engine of Uber’s push. You should read the $10 billion (€9.3 billion) figure not as a single check but as a multi-part campaign: infrastructure before rollout, expanded service areas, and global licensing.
Khosrowshahi framed the plan plainly: Uber wants to be the world’s leading commercialization platform for AVs. That ambition forces trade-offs. One path leads to aggressive scale and public backlash; the other to a slower, more deliberate pace of adoption. The rollout is a tightrope strung between optimism and outrage.
How much is Uber investing in autonomous vehicles?
Short answer: $10 billion (€9.3 billion) over the coming years. Money will flow into sensors, mapping, charging and teleoperations facilities, and the legal/regulatory work needed to expand from seven live cities to as many as 28 by 2028.
At a town hall in Louisiana, neighbors demanded to see the contracts tied to a new data center
Those meetings matter because public sentiment is the brake pedal on any tech rollout. Khosrowshahi explicitly linked AV pacing to the backlash against recent AI infrastructure projects — NDAs, opaque deals, and community complaints about health and environmental impacts.
He argued for “smart regulation and dialogue” to avoid repeating the AI fight. That stance is partly defensive: Uber is openly opposing a Washington bill that Waymo supports, saying the law would displace human drivers who depend on ride-hailing income.
Will robotaxis replace human drivers?
Not overnight. There are business incentives pushing toward automation and real human costs that politicians and unions are watching. Uber describes the risk of displacement and is lobbying accordingly, while Waymo backs laws that would accelerate supervised robotaxi operations. The political and legal tug-of-war is already shaping where and how fast AVs can expand.
Outside a London traffic office, Wayve got a permit and an urban experiment began
Permits are the checkpoints of the new map. Uber has partnered with more than 30 companies, including Wayve and Waymo, to pilot services; Wayve just secured a license in London for supervised robotaxis. The partnership picture is messy: Waymo and Uber operate together in some cities but reports point to a potential split in January 2028.
Uber has been clear it won’t be dependent on a single partner and is courting a wide AV ecosystem. That approach reads like a Swiss Army knife — many tools under one brand — giving Uber optionality if partners pull away or regulations shift.
When will robotaxis be widely available?
“Widely” depends on your definition. Khosrowshahi expects global adoption, but slower and more deliberate than recent AI rollouts. Practically, expect pockets of service expanding city by city, with regulatory approvals and public acceptance pacing growth. The company’s target—28 cities by 2028—gives a window, not a guarantee.
You should watch three pressure points: investor impatience (AVs threaten core ride-hailing economics), regulatory fights (D.C. legislation and local NDAs), and partner stability (the reported rift with Waymo). Each can accelerate or choke the program.
I want you to hold two images: a company balancing public trust and growth, and neighborhoods that decide whether those cars are strangers or tools. One final question: if Uber spends billions to make robotaxis ordinary, will you accept a ride from a driverless car before your city’s regulators say it’s truly ready?