Uber Attributes Trips Miss to Brazil Driver Supply, Not Demand
Uber chief executive Dara Khosrowshahi says the company’s second-quarter trips shortfall reflected a localized driver-supply disruption in Brazil, not weakening consumer demand. He points to stable mobility growth, accelerating delivery and no sign that customers are trading down or reducing tips, even as Uber’s third-quarter gross-bookings forecast merely met expectations. Khosrowshahi also argues that Uber’s robotaxi strategy should aggregate demand across multiple autonomous fleets rather than rely on a single provider.
A trips miss, but management says the constraint was local driver supply
Uber’s near-term tension is straightforward: its displayed second-quarter results showed substantial growth, while its third-quarter gross-bookings forecast of $58.25 billion to $60.25 billion only met expectations and trip volume fell short. Dara Khosrowshahi argued that the weaker trips figure reflected a localized supply disruption in Brazil—not softer consumer demand across Uber’s marketplace.
The on-screen results graphic reported $14.19 billion in second-quarter revenue, up 12% year over year, and $58.02 billion in gross bookings, up 24% year over year. Khosrowshahi described gross bookings as up 22% in the quarter and accelerating quarter on quarter.
Khosrowshahi said mobility growth was stable at 20%, delivery accelerated from the prior quarter, and Uber was handling more than 300 million trips a week. He also said that growth had produced strong profitability.
The pressure, he said, was concentrated in Brazil, where a food-delivery competitive battle has pulled two-wheeler drivers away from Uber’s mobility platform. Uber has substantial two-wheeler ridership in the country but does not operate in local food delivery, he said; competing delivery services were paying drivers heavily enough to shift their time away from mobility.
The pressure that we talked about was really in Brazil, which caused a trips slowdown for the quarter. And that was actually about competition in the food delivery space.
Khosrowshahi characterized the disruption as having no broader effect on Uber and said the forward gross-bookings outlook was consistent with the guidance the company gave a quarter earlier.
Uber says consumer behavior has not turned defensive
The Brazil explanation sits alongside a broader claim about the consumer. Asked by Ed Ludlow about customer health and behavior in the second half of the year, Khosrowshahi said Uber saw no evidence of a consumer slowdown in either mobility or delivery.
Uber tracks more than top-line growth, he said. Its indicators include whether customers are choosing more-affordable restaurants and whether riders and eaters are leaving smaller tips. Khosrowshahi said the company was seeing neither behavior.
We don't see any signs whatsoever of a consumer slowdown, so the consumer remains strong.
He also cited the supply side of Uber’s marketplace. The company has more than 10 million earners globally, he said, and U.S. driver earnings were up 8% year over year. Against discussion of a K-shaped economy, Khosrowshahi said Uber viewed “both sides of the K” as healthy.
Uber wants to aggregate demand across robotaxi fleets
Uber’s robotaxi strategy is explicitly non-exclusive. Dara Khosrowshahi said the company was already operating with autonomous-vehicle partners in seven cities and was on track to reach 15 markets by year-end. Its role, he said, is to work with the full ecosystem rather than select one eventual winner.
Just like we want every safe driver, human driver on our platform, we want every safe robot driver on our platform.
Khosrowshahi said Uber supports partners through investment, data collection for some companies, and commercialization once vehicles are operating. His contention is that Uber can supply demand and help fleet operators monetize vehicles more effectively than they could on their own.
The next concrete addition, he said, should be Zoox in Las Vegas later this year. Zoox plans to offer its vehicles both through Uber and through its own app, according to Khosrowshahi, with expansion to follow. He also cited Wayve’s approval to begin testing operations in London as an indication that new autonomous fleets are progressing toward market.
Waymo remains a significant partner, but Uber does not want to depend on it alone. Ludlow raised the changed Phoenix deployment and the status of Waymo agreements in Austin and Atlanta that run through 2028. Khosrowshahi said the Phoenix operation involved fewer than 10 cars and was not material, and described Waymo as a strong partner through 2028. Uber would like to continue the relationship, he said, while maintaining relationships with other developers and fleet operators.
Khosrowshahi rejected the premise that a single robotaxi company will dominate the market. He compared the field to foundation models: an early leader may be ahead, but multiple competitors can emerge as important providers. Waymo is currently in the lead, he said, but Uber expects a larger group of fleets to participate—and wants its app to be the place where their capacity meets rider demand.
Robotaxis account for less than 0.5% of Uber’s overall trips, Khosrowshahi said, so adoption will take time. But he said demand and pricing were already “super strong” in markets where the product is available, and that robotaxi providers had not needed to price below conventional ride-hailing to draw riders.