Uber faces mounting pressure from Waymo and Tesla in the robotaxi race, as competitors scale autonomous fleets faster than traditional ride-hailing models. Waymo, backed by Alphabet, now handles over 400,000 weekly rides and boasts a $110bn valuation, intensifying fears that Uber’s human-driven dominance could fade. To counter this, Uber has aggressively pursued partnerships and investments: it deepened ties with chipmaker Nvidia and committed to buying tens of thousands of electric SUVs from Rivian, signaling a push into autonomous vehicle infrastructure.

Meanwhile, Uber’s stock trades at 22 times forward earnings, defying expectations as investors weigh its pivot to driverless tech.