Uber executives revealed during an earnings call this morning that third-party AI agents accounted for only four rides during the third quarter of 2026. Out of a total of 320 million transactions, the company recorded “around 500” Uber Eats orders fulfilled by AI agents during the week of Halloween.
This marks the first time that Uber has disclosed the number of third-party AI agents that have arranged deliveries or rides on its platform. While some experts have predicted that platforms like Uber and DoorDash are at risk of disintermediation—in which customers use AI agents like Meta’s Muse or OpenAI’s Dots to order food or book a ride rather than visiting the app itself—the risk currently appears to be very small.
During the call, Uber’s executives expressed an openness to working with third-party AI companies to make things easier for agents to use their platform, while also expressing confidence that their customers will continue to prefer the experience of using the Uber app directly.
“We hope that there will be more traction,” Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi said during the call. “We do think that we want to make services that are available to consumers in a delightful, easy way. We think our direct services are going to be the most delightful and easy, but we will work with these third parties.”
Khosrowshahi continued, “It is just very, very early, and we want to make sure we are not dependent on any one player, and I think we are very well positioned in this environment going forward.”
Uber is developing its own AI tools that are designed to keep customers using its own platform. Earlier this year, the company rolled out a new Cart Assistant for Uber Eats, in which an AI bot will build a grocery list based on an image of a recipe or a text prompt.
