Uber intends to have 2,000 robotaxis operating in its global fleet by the end of 2027, with about 700 of those online by the end of this year, the company said on its quarterly earnings call. The company put a $10 billion figure on the driverless-car push and said the fleet would be spread across roughly 20 cities worldwide.
About half of the 2,000 vehicles are destined for the United States, with the remainder divided between Europe, Asia and the Middle East, according to executive comments on the call. Uber chief executive Dara Khosrowshahi framed the shift as a commercial one: "Our focus on autonomous is now on commercial execution," he said, describing the next phase as delivering results that show Uber's advantage as a platform for commercialising autonomous vehicles at scale.
The cities and partners Uber has named
Uber has not published a full list of the 20 cities in the plan, and the sources do not name individual vehicle partners for the 2,000-car fleet. What is clear is that the robotaxis will come through Uber's web of autonomous-vehicle partnerships rather than a single supplier, with the company positioning itself as a platform for driverless rides.
One partner is already visible on the road: in cities such as Atlanta, riders hail a Waymo robotaxi through the Uber app. That arrangement is the most concrete example of the partnership model Uber is scaling, even as the two companies discuss winding down their current contract.
Waymo is both partner and benchmark
Waymo already operates around 4,000 robotaxis across 15 US cities and aims to double that count to 8,000 by the end of this year. It plans to reach a fleet of 20,000 by the end of 2027, which would leave it with roughly four times Uber's planned 2027 total by the end of 2026.
The relationship is under strain. The Financial Times reported that the two companies have internal disagreements about robotaxis and are discussing ending their contract, and a Waymo executive described the partnership as "a little bit of a crapshoot" because Uber customers never knew whether a robotaxi or a human driver would arrive, according to Bloomberg. Waymo says it plans to end its exclusive deal with Uber in Austin and Atlanta in January 2028.
That matters because Uber's 2027 target is modest next to the incumbent it currently leans on. Hitting 2,000 cars would be a real milestone for a platform business, but it does not make Uber a fleet leader. The near-term priority is getting its other partnerships running at scale before the Waymo arrangement unwinds.
How the fleet gets paid for
Uber says it will fund the robotaxi fleet from its own earnings, though it may "bring in third-party capital" once the self-driving fleet grows beyond 10,000 cars. The company has floated an eventual goal of 120,000 robotaxis, according to the Financial Times, without attaching a timeframe.
The balance sheet gives it room to move: Uber said gross bookings rose 20 percent year over year to $59.8 billion. For riders, the practical question is where and when driverless cars actually show up in the app, and the 700 cars promised by the end of this year will be the first test of whether the 2027 figure is a plan or an aspiration.
