Uber Reports Just Four AI Agent-Booked Rides in Its Busiest Week as Agentic Commerce Struggles to Gain Traction

Uber revealed on its third-quarter earnings call on Wednesday that only four rides were booked through AI agents during the week of Halloween, its busiest week in October.

Chief financial officer Balaji Krishnamurthy told analysts that Uber and Uber Eats handled around 320 million trips and orders that week, yet just 500 Uber Eats orders were placed by AI agents. CEO Dara Khosrowshahi described traction as very early and very limited, saying the company hopes adoption will grow.

The figures contrast with growing excitement around personal AI agents that complete tasks on users’ behalf. Startup Instinct recently secured funding at a $10 billion valuation, while Meta’s Muse topped Apple’s U.S. App Store last month with over 10 million users, many using it for shopping. OpenAI, Anthropic, Google and SpaceXAI also offer their own agents, and DoorDash said last week it had received only a few hundred agent-placed orders.

Khosrowshahi noted that booking a ride in Uber’s app takes about 50 seconds and reordering food around 90 seconds, suggesting agents are not yet saving users time. Even so, he said agents offer another route to Uber’s platform and should ultimately boost demand, adding that he expects the current eight or so major AI assistants to grow to more than 10.