AI Agents Booked Four Uber Rides During a Week of 320 Million Trips and Orders

Halloween brought Uber one of its largest weeks, and outside AI agents booked just four of its rides, CFO Balaji Krishnamurthy told analysts on the company’s third-quarter call.

CEO Dara Khosrowshahi said Uber is now negotiating “the terms of trade” with the companies behind those agents, so the terms are taking shape while the channel carries almost no orders. Uber did not say how much business it expects agents to bring.

What did Uber count?

Uber completed around 320 million trips across rides and Uber Eats that week, counting each ride and each delivery order as a trip. Outside agents added about 500 Uber Eats orders to their four rides, fewer than two bookings in every million trips by The Denominator’s arithmetic. Uber did not say which agents sent them.

An average week runs a little smaller. Uber reported 4.1 billion trips in the third quarter, up 16% from a year earlier, which comes to about 309 million a week by the same arithmetic. Against either number, the agent bookings barely register.

What does the direct app offer?

Khosrowshahi said Uber’s focus is the experience customers get when they come to it directly. A rider books a trip in Uber’s app in 50 seconds on average, 75% of rides take a single tap, and an Uber Eats customer reorders a favorite meal in 90 seconds. Membership is part of that pitch: Uber One members account for more than half of Uber’s bookings, he said.

Uber is building in-house AI tools into that direct experience, Khosrowshahi said. So far, baskets built with its cart assistant run about twice the size of the average basket. Uber is also working on an assistant for Uber Eats customers and one for drivers.

Is Uber alone?

No. DoorDash CEO Tony Xu told analysts that outside agents had sent DoorDash “maybe several hundred orders in total” since they went live. Customers do not yet treat those agents as the tool for an easy task like ordering food, Xu said. DoorDash is building in-house AI tools too and gives outside developers access to its service for jobs such as corporate lunch orders.

Who needs whom?

Khosrowshahi has counted eight such agents on the market and expects more than 10. He called it good news that most markets have only two big ride providers and two big delivery providers. In most markets, then, eight or more agents meet two big ride platforms. “I used to work in the travel business where we were dependent on the Googles of the world,” Khosrowshahi said. “I don’t want to go back there.”

Uber did not say what terms it wants from the agent makers or whether any agreement has been signed.

Does a brand that sells through its own app know how many orders outside agents already bring, and on what terms it would take more?