Could Uber Become the Ultimate AI Takeover Target?

Dear reader,

Last night I watched the latest episode of 60 Minutes focused on the rapid rise of robotaxis in London and around the world.

And it hit me…

Most investors still do not fully understand how massive this shift could become.

The segment showed autonomous vehicles navigating the incredibly difficult streets of London - narrow roads, chaotic traffic, pedestrians everywhere, cyclists cutting through lanes, and roads originally designed centuries ago.

In other words, one of the hardest driving environments on Earth.

Yet companies like Waymo (owned by Alphabet GOOGL) and Wayve (British startup backed by Nvidia and Microsoft) are already testing vehicles there, with plans for broader rollouts ahead.

And this is where investors need to stop thinking about robotaxis as science fiction.

Because they are rapidly becoming commercial reality.

The key takeaway from the program was simple: The technology is improving incredibly fast.

Waymo says its autonomous systems now drive millions of miles per month and have logged billions of simulated miles for training.

That matters.

Because AI driving systems improve through data accumulation - just like large language models.

The more miles they drive… The smarter they become.

And eventually, the economics become impossible to ignore.

Ironically, I believe many investors still misunderstand what robotaxis mean for Uber Technologies $UBER ( ▼ 2.43% ).

The market initially feared autonomous vehicles would destroy Uber.

I believe the opposite may happen.

Uber has already built the global demand network — hundreds of millions of users, routing algorithms, payment infrastructure, logistics systems, dynamic pricing, delivery integration, mapping data, and customer behavior analytics.

That infrastructure is incredibly valuable.

In many ways, Uber is becoming a transportation operating system.

And robotaxis may simply become another layer added on top.

Instead of paying human drivers, Uber could eventually route rides to autonomous fleets operated by partners like Waymo, Tesla, Wayve, or other autonomous vehicle providers.

That could dramatically improve margins over time.

And it is already beginning.

Uber has been actively partnering with autonomous vehicle companies rather than fighting them.

That is a very smart strategy.

Because Uber doesn’t necessarily need to own the cars.

It may simply need to own the customer relationship.

That is often where the real value gets created.

Here is the part I think Wall Street still underestimates.

Uber is quietly evolving into a "super app" — spanning transportation, food delivery, freight, local commerce, memberships, advertising, and potential autonomous ride integration.

This is starting to resemble the platform models that became dominant in parts of Asia.

And once autonomous vehicles become mainstream, the total addressable market expands significantly.

Cheaper rides likely increase ride frequency.

More rides create more data.

More data improves the AI systems.

That creates a flywheel effect.

And eventually, the company controlling the platform layer could become extraordinarily powerful.

I would not dismiss the possibility.

Think about who benefits most from owning the global transportation layer — autonomous vehicle companies, AI leaders, hyperscalers, large technology platforms, and global automakers.

Uber already has the scale, the users, and the infrastructure.

If robotaxis accelerate faster than expected over the next several years, Uber could become one of the most strategically valuable mobility platforms in the world.

And strategic assets often get acquired.

Especially when technological disruption accelerates.

This is another reminder that AI is not just about chatbots or semiconductors.

AI is becoming physical infrastructure.

It is now moving into:

The convergence is happening faster than most people realize.

And investors who continue dismissing these trends as “too futuristic” may eventually look back and realize the future arrived much sooner than expected.

Here’s to the future,
Matt McCall
Founder, NXT Wave Research