Chief Executive Officer & Director, Uber Technologies Inc
HORSEPOWER OF AMERICA: Uber CEO highlights the future of transportation
Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi discusses the company's push to transform transportation, highlighting autonomous ride-sharing, air taxis and robotic food delivery on ‘Special Report.’ #fox #foxnews #media #breakingnews #us #usa #new #news #breaking #specialreport #uber #darakhosrowshahi #khosrowshahi #transportation #technology #ai #autonomousvehicles #robotics #future #innovation #rideshare #airtaxi #fooddelivery #business #economy
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About Dara Khosrowshahi
In July 2026, Khosrowshahi announced Uber's $14.8 billion acquisition of Delivery Hero, describing the deal as "compelling value" that would expand Uber's delivery operations into nearly 50 new markets and bring its total delivery footprint to 99 markets. He stated that the company expects over $1 billion in synergies and that the effective price paid for the assets is eight times EBITDA. Khosrowshahi said that Uber's capital allocation strategy would prioritize organic growth, investment in autonomous technology, and stock buybacks, and that the company would remain "opportunistic" regarding future acquisitions. Khosrowshahi has frequently discussed the future of autonomous transportation, stating that robotaxis are "coming" and that within five to ten years human and robot drivers will share the roads. He described the rise of physical AI, autonomous vehicles, and drones as "another trillion dollar marketplace" that will change how society operates. Khosrowshahi also noted that Uber's AI budget was exhausted within a quarter, forcing the company to meter headcount increases as engineers become more efficient. He emphasized that Uber's priority is organic investment and innovation over buybacks, and that the company aims to drive efficiency to lower prices for riders and increase earnings for drivers.
Transcript (26 segments)
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Bret0:06
Well, back to 'Special Report.' Here at the Great America State Fair, the theme for today is Horse Power of America. The muscle, period, the entrance that keeps nation moving forward. Joining us now, the CEO of Uber. You have been since 2017. You're in 17 countries. I didn't even know that.
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Dara Khosrowshahi0:29
Oh yeah, we tried to be everywhere, but where people are moving, where we're delivering food, etc. But it really is a global business.
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Bret0:36
I saw this stat: the digital ride-sharing apps hit 1.7 billion in 2023. But in 2029, 2.3 billion individual users projected.
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Dara Khosrowshahi0:48
Pretty awesome. We do 40 million trips every single day. That is how big – whether it's ride-sharing or home delivery of food or grocery, this is about making your everyday life better, and we have 10 million people earning on that platform as well all over the world in a flexible way. They can earn money whether they are driving or delivering the way they want to when they want to.
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Bret1:12
Well, let's talk about the pavilion here. This is the robotaxi.
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Dara Khosrowshahi1:18
This is all about American innovation in the transportation space. And one of the innovations that we are the most excited about are robotaxis. Robotaxis – they never get tired, they don't text, they don't get distracted. And this particular robotaxi, which is built by – it's a partnership between our partners, Nuro and Lucid as well. This is manufactured in Arizona. This thing, you see on top it's got a huge array of sensors here. Cameras, radars, lidar as well. So it sees the road in a way that no human could, and it's got something incredible – brains there to decide what to do in terms of driving as well.
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Bret1:58
So first of all, is it safe?
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Dara Khosrowshahi2:01
Of course it's safe. Wouldn't be on the road if it's not safe. It's on the road with a safety driver testing. We will launch later this year in California and then expand from there into Houston. With the safety driver first, and then once we collect enough data to demonstrate safety, we're going to pull the safety driver out, and that robot driver will be on its own. But only when it's safe.
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Bret2:26
But you expect this to boom in how long? A year, two years?
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Dara Khosrowshahi2:31
So it's going to grow. But listen, when you're doing 40 million trips a day, it will take time to build out these robotaxis and to really scale, so it's going to be five to 10 years. But there's no question that robotaxis are coming. I want to go to that next thing. For drivers who are saying wait a second... So that's why we want it to happen gradually, so that society can change, etc. We know that it's safe. And the fact is, our business has grown so fast. I think five to 10 years from now, we're going to have more human drivers – human drivers and robot drivers – they're going to be driving together on the streets.
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Bret3:10
And you'll have a choice. But this next thing is a partnership with Joby and this is real. Air taxis are real?
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Dara Khosrowshahi3:18
They are becoming real. So this is less status of FAA certification.
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Bret3:24
So you're waiting on the FAA.
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Dara Khosrowshahi3:27
We're waiting on the FAA. This – you call it the next generation of helicopter. It's safer, it's electric, it's got six rotors so that you can feel safe at all times. And it's got five-wire technology. It's flown by a pilot. It can take four passengers, but this will be available on the Uber network. It will get you from here to Dallas five minutes flat. So I could be in Georgetown and say I need a flight to Dallas. Exactly. And you would go to – Uber would take you there. Get you in this thing. Get to Dallas five minutes.
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Bret4:02
Wow, that's amazing. And you envisioned this to be – what's the timeline on this?
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Dara Khosrowshahi4:08
This hopefully depends on the FAA. But I'm hoping once it gets certified, we'll be flying this in a year or two.
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Bret4:17
One last thing is that robots delivering food.
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Dara Khosrowshahi4:19
This thing is really cute. This is Coco Robotics – this is another one of our partners and this is with Uber Eats. Man, you order, you will get a choice. We can deliver this to you with a regular human or with one of these. And as you can see here, this is big enough to carry four pizzas, for example, or any other hot food. This lid closes and you can use your app to essentially either put in a code or use the app to open the lid and pick up your food.
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Bret4:51
And delivers fast, goes through weather conditions, can go –
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Dara Khosrowshahi4:57
Yes, it's hot, cold, whatever weather, rain or shine, this can deliver for you.
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Bret5:02
And this is real now?
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Dara Khosrowshahi5:04
It's happening as we speak. It could be coming to D.C. as well.
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Bret5:09
It looks fantastic. Picture the future of this business you see it. Expanding, obviously you have lived as a competitor.
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Dara Khosrowshahi5:18
This is a trillion dollar plus business. 70 countries. We're growing 20%. Business is incredibly healthy in the U.S. and abroad as well.
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Bret5:30
All right. So one controversy: people say they order the Uber at the same time, they get different prices. Anything to that?
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Dara Khosrowshahi5:38
So the pricing will differ based on supply and demand. You don't – you know, surge pricing, for example. We don't have enough drivers, you have to increase prices to get a driver to you. It's all about getting you a safe, reliable service. Which is going to change if you have a lot of robotaxis.