Investor Gary Black argued Uber is best positioned to scale autonomous ride-hailing, as the company reiterated plans for 15 cities by year-end and gave fresh timing for Rivian- and Nvidia-backed robotaxis.
Uber's autonomous vehicle strategy drew fresh backing from investor Gary Black of The Future Fund LLC, who said the ride-hailing company is better placed than Alphabet's Waymo and Elon Musk's Tesla to bring fully autonomous ride-hailing to the mass market because of its "open source supplier model." The remarks came after Uber reported second-quarter 2026 revenue of $14.19 billion, up 12% year over year but slightly below analyst estimates of $14.24 billion, while matching consensus earnings of 81 cents a share. GAAP income from operations rose 30% to $1.89 billion. The earnings update added detail to Uber's previously disclosed autonomous expansion. CEO Dara Khosrowshahi said the company remains on track to begin autonomous ride-hailing operations in 15 cities by the end of 2026. He also said Rivian robotaxis are expected to launch in San Francisco and Miami in 2028, while Nvidia-backed robotaxis are set to debut in Los Angeles and San Francisco next year and expand to 28 cities globally by 2028. Khosrowshahi also highlighted Uber's 15-minute drone delivery service as a "magical experience." Uber has previously outlined more than $10 billion in autonomous vehicle spending, including roughly $7.5 billion for fleet purchases and more than $2.5 billion for equity stakes in autonomous vehicle developers and manufacturers. The company is pursuing a hybrid model that combines robotaxis with human-driven vehicles, a strategy that aims to preserve network coverage while autonomous systems scale.