Uber Technologies' decision to let go of about 3,300 employees—or 10 per cent—of its global workforce, in its sharpest cuts since the COVID-19 pandemic, has added fuel to fears of AI adoption taking over the ride-hailing business as well.
This comes after Uber let go of a whopping 6,700 jobs, or about a quarter of its global workforce, in May 2020 due to a massive crash in demand driven by the pandemic.
The newest cuts will rejig various layers of the transport giant's management and reduce organisational complexity to boost decision-making, CEO Dara Khosrowshahi said in a note to employees on Wednesday, as per a Bloomberg report.
Notably, unlike several tech executives speaking on the layoffs, Khosrowshahi did not blame the cuts on AI, instead highlighting efficiency and the company's robotaxi push.
However, his statements also come at a time when the company has been investing heavily in what he termed an "autonomous future", redirecting capital and pledging about $10 billion to robotaxi partnerships over the years.
The robotaxi investments also come in the face of pressure from Waymo, the biggest robotaxi operator in the US, which manages its cars via the Uber app in Austin and Atlanta.
With Waymo's expansion into new markets, and rivals like Tesla focusing heavily on robotaxi development, Uber's shares reflected investor fears of the competitors overtaking it in North America—they fell by nearly 8 per cent this year, recovering by 2 per cent in pre-market trade after the latest layoffs were announced.
The company has also been steadily pushing AI into daily operations, which was reflected in small sets of cuts in their customer service and HR departments earlier this year, as well as a May decision to slow down hiring.
The AI costs themselves are rising—not just due to the speed and scale of Uber's competition, but also because its roughly 34,000 employees worldwide (as of end-2025 reports) allegedly used up their entire 2026 budget for the technology in just four months into this year.
