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Uber Reports Just Four AI Agent-Booked Rides in Its Busiest Week as Agentic Commerce Struggles to Gain Traction
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Uber disclosed on Wednesday that only four rides were booked through AI agents during Halloween week, its busiest week in October. CFO Balaji Krishnamurthy told analysts on the third-quarter earnings call that Uber and Uber Eats handled 320 million trips and orders that week. Just 500 Uber Eats orders came from AI agents.
The figures show agentic commerce remains early despite hype. Personal AI agents are meant to complete tasks such as shopping and booking for users. Technology companies are promoting them as a new interface for everyday transactions.
Investor enthusiasm is rising. Startup Instinct recently raised funding at a $10 billion valuation. Meta's Muse topped Apple's U.S. App Store last month with more than 10 million users. OpenAI, Anthropic, Google and SpaceXAI also offer agents, while DoorDash said last week it had received only a few hundred agent-placed orders.
CEO Dara Khosrowshahi called adoption "very early and very limited." He said booking a ride in Uber's app takes about 50 seconds and reordering food takes about 90 seconds. That suggests agents are not yet saving users time.
Even so, Khosrowshahi said agents offer another route to Uber's platform and should ultimately boost demand. He expects the current eight or so major AI assistants to grow to more than 10. The results show both promise and limits.
For Uber, converting agent traffic into volume remains difficult. The gap between 320 million weekly trips and four agent-booked rides shows how far consumer behavior lags product launches. It also raises questions about whether agents can deliver convenience, trust and speed at scale.
Uber is preparing for a future in which assistants may become a larger gateway to services. If adoption grows, the company could gain another distribution channel beyond its apps. Agentic commerce remains a promising experiment rather than a measurable business.
