Uber’s Autonomous Investments Won’t Be Modest, With or Without Waymo

This week on Autonomy Markets, Grayson Brulte and Walter Piecyk discuss Uber’s growing autonomous vehicle investments and why they won’t be modest.

While Uber publicly framed their autonomy spending as “modest” and emphasized share buybacks, CEO Dara Khosrowshahi made it clear on the company’s Q2 2025 earnings call that more OEM partnerships and AV deals are on the horizon.

At the same time, Uber pointed to “recycling” past investments, raising the question: why recycle when the company’s growing free cash flow can support both increased buybacks and significant investments in the autonomy ecosystem? Is this simply a bid to reassure Wall Street while simultaneously preparing for an autonomous future?

Anything is possible and we broke it all down on this week’s edition of Autonomy Markets along with Lyft’s renewed interest in autonomy and their willingness to invest and own assets. As Lyft prepares to spend (with a smaller balance sheet), Uber’s autonomy investments will be anything but modest.

Episode Chapters

• 0:00 Uber’s Autonomy Investments Narrative 
• 3:49 Who Finances Robotaxi Fleets?
• 6:16 What is Holding Back Growth of AVs?
• 8:26 Autonomous Driving Systems
• 10:20 Uber’s AV Exclusive Deals 
• 12:05 Uber Recycling Investments 
• 16:09 Uber’s Relationship with Waymo 
• 18:49 Lyft is Leaning into Autonomy
• 21:52 Lyft Partners with Baidu for Europe and UK Markets 
• 2428 Managing AV Fleets 
• 28:24 Aurora LIVE
• 31:24 Zoox NHTSA Exemption 
• 32:47 Autonomy Expands the Rideshare Market 
• 37:33 Next Week