Uber’s robotaxi chief says the company will still need human drivers, but their jobs will look very different

Uber drivers are already sharing the road with robot rivals — and it could be about to change their jobs forever.

Senior VP Andrew Macdonald, who oversees Uber’s autonomous vehicle operations, said that although human drivers would remain crucial to its ride-hailing business, they will soon face serious competition from self-driving taxis in city centers.

“I am almost certain that there will be more Uber drivers in 10 years, not less, because I think the world will move from individual car ownership to mobility as a service,” said Macdonald, who was speaking during The Financial Times’ Future of the Car conference.

“You’ll continue to see that pie grow. But it will look different. You’ll have urban cores where a large percentage of trips are serviced by autonomous vehicles. And to some, that will feel like very abrupt change,” he added.

Uber has struck multiple deals with robotaxi companies to host their autonomous vehicles on its app over the past year.

The ride-hailing giant currently allows users to hail Waymo vehicles in Austin and Phoenix, with Atlanta set to follow later this year.

CEO Dara Khosrowshahi hailed the Austin launch as a major success in Uber’s earnings call last week, telling analysts that the Waymo robotaxis in Austin were busier than “99%” of its human drivers.

Uber’s aggressive self-driving push — which has also seen it strike deals with Volkswagen, Wayve, and Chinese firms WeRide and Pony.AI — has come as its drivers express growing concern about the impact of driverless taxis on their livelihoods.

Uber drivers in Phoenix previously told Business Insider that their earnings are already being hurt by competition from Waymo, with some saying they intend to shun short-distance city center trips in favor of more profitable airport pickups.

Macdonald said that he didn’t think the growth of the robotaxi industry was having an effect on driver earnings or opportunities just yet.

However, he added that he expected drivers would start feeling the impact soon in cities where robotaxis are becoming common, such as Austin, LA, and parts of China.

Macdonald said that Uber was pursuing a “hybrid marketplace” with a mix of human and robot drivers handling different types of routes.

“You can get an autonomous vehicle on the Uber platform in Austin today, we’re available in 37 square miles,” he said.

“If you’re outside that area, you can get a human driver. If you’re going from inside that area to outside, you can get a human driver. If you’re going to the airport or on highways right now, it takes a human driver. There’s a lot of value to having that hybrid,” he added.

Macdonald said some of these journeys would “move more autonomous over time,” but that the shift would create “other opportunities” for Uber drivers.

While autonomous vehicles are mostly limited to city centers and urban areas right now, Waymo is waiting on approval to offer airport drop-offs and pick-ups in multiple cities, and has said it is testing its robotaxis on freeways.

Despite this, the Uber executive believes there will be some situations that can only be handled by human drivers, such as bouts of extreme weather like blizzards or hailstorms.

“Even if an autonomous vehicle can handle 99% of weather cases, there’s 1% of cases where maybe those cars need to pull over,” said Macdonald.

“When you’re running a fleet of 400 vehicles in a city, and all of them have to pull over at once, what happens to your ride-hailing service? For us, we send a bunch of humans to pick you up,” he added.

Uber did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.

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