Ethan McKanna
- Self-driving cars will likely displace human drivers eventually, Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi said.
- The loss of jobs is going to create “a big, big societal question,” he said.
- Uber offers driverless rides with Waymo vehicles in Atlanta and Austin.
The rise of self-driving cars could eventually cost many ride-hailing drivers their jobs — and that’s a big problem, Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi said.
Khosrowshahi spoke about the issue onstage this month at a summit hosted by the “All-In” podcast, which posted a video of the conversation on Wednesday.
At the summit, Khosrowshahi was asked about concerns that gig workers, who have played a key role in Uber’s development, will eventually lose their jobs as self-driving cars become more prevalent.
The Uber CEO said he expects human drivers to continue working alongside self-driving cars in Uber’s network in the coming years.
“For the next five to seven years, we’re going to have more human drivers and delivery people, just because we’re going so quickly,” Khosrowshahi said.
“But, I think, 10 to 15 years from now, this is going to be a real issue,” he said about drivers losing their jobs.
Khosrowshahi said he doesn’t have a “neat answer” for the problem.
“This is a big, big societal question that we’re going to have to struggle with, and lots of others are going to struggle with too,” Khosrowshahi said.
As the use of artificial intelligence has grown, so have worries about the technology replacing humans in various industries. That includes people who drive as gig workers for apps like Uber and Lyft. Early results from Uber’s partnership with Waymo, which has robotaxis cars on the streets of Atlanta and Austin, suggest that the self-driving vehicles are more efficient than most human drivers.
Some Uber drivers told Business Insider this summer that they weren’t too concerned, however. They questioned the technology’s ability to handle common driving obstacles, such as potholes.
Khosrowshahi said AI is also creating new jobs for independent contractors.
Some of those roles may require different skills than ride-hailing or delivery. Khosrowshahi said Uber offers work for independent contractors, such as labeling and processing data to train AI models, through the company’s AI solutions arm.
“We’re expanding into other kinds of on-demand work as well to be able to adjust the kind of work available to people who want to earn on our own platform,” he said.
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