Very few people are utilizing personal AI agents to book rides with Uber, according to the company's recent Q3 earnings call. During the transportation giant's busiest week in October, specifically the week of Halloween, the company reported that only four rides were ordered through an AI agent.
Although usage was slightly higher for food delivery via Uber Eats, the volume remained minimal compared to the overall number of trips processed.
Uber’s chief financial officer, Balaji Krishnamurthy, informed Wall Street analysts that the company handled around 320 million trips and orders across its platforms during the Halloween week, yet only 500 of those orders were placed by an AI agent.
“It is very, very early and very limited traction that we are seeing so far,” stated CEO Dara Khosrowshahi, referring to the low volume of AI-initiated transactions. “Listen, we hope that there will be more traction.”
The surprisingly low figures for AI-driven transactions emerge amidst growing hype for a new wave of AI agents capable of performing tasks on behalf of users. The market has seen an explosion of personal AI startups, including Instinct, and established tech giants like Meta, OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google are also offering their own agent services.
Early data from public companies suggests the agentic web is still in its infancy. DoorDash, for example, recently reported that it has only received a few hundred orders from AI agents, as most customers continue to place orders directly through the app.
Khosrowshahi pointed out that the average time to book a ride in the Uber app is just 50 seconds and re-ordering a favorite food takes 90 seconds, suggesting that AI agents have not yet proven effective at saving time for users.
Despite the current low numbers, Khosrowshahi expressed optimism regarding the future of agents. “We think that is another opportunity to reach our platform. We think it will be a net positive in terms of demand on the ecosystem,” he remarked.
Currently, there are eight major AI assistants operating on the market, with Khosrowshahi expecting this number to grow beyond 10. “Every single AI system company is talking to us,” he added.
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