I see you’re riding an Uber to work. Would you like a cheap coffee on the way?
(2025/08/07)
- Reference: 1754534144
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2025/08/07/uber_q2_205/
- Source link:
Uber has revealed its ambition to offer hyper-personalized offers to its customers, but to do so it needs more of them to use more of its apps.
CEO Dara Khosrowshahi discussed the plan in [1]prepared remarks [PDF] delivered ahead of the company’s Q2 results, in which he revealed that customers who use both Uber’s rideshare and delivery services “use Uber more frequently and have retention rates over 35 percent higher than single-business consumers. As a result, cross-platform consumers generate over 3x the Gross Bookings and profits than their single-business peers.”
Promotions can seem anti-consumer to some extent
Today, fewer than one in five Uber customers use both services. The company wants to improve that, then use AI to sell them more stuff.
“Larger and more sophisticated AI models are also improving our ability to encourage cross-platform activity for the right consumers at the right time—for instance, grabbing coffee on your way to the office, or having your groceries delivered right as you arrive at your vacation rental,” Khosrowshahi wrote.
On Uber’s earnings call, the CEO offered another version of the coffee scenario.
[2]
“We're able to pick kind of the right time to send a promotion to you,” he said. “So on your way to work, maybe you pick up a Starbucks coffee with a promotion attached to it. Those kinds of magical experiences have to be hyper-personalized. And again, can be optimized as a result of a bunch of optimization and model kind of tuning work.”
[3]
[4]
“This is a key focus area that’s still in its early innings, and you will continue to see us innovate in both the Uber and Uber Eats apps to supercharge cross-platform activity.”
“What we're trying to have is the best of both worlds, a highly tuned mobility app, a highly tuned delivery app, both of which talk to each other and take targeted moments to promote each other as opposed to kind of broad promotion that can seem … anti-consumer to some extent,” the CEO added.
[5]
Uber has hardly begun to make this happen. “This is a long journey. I think we're in the second inning,” Khosrowshahi said. “With our product teams and our tech teams focused on it … I think the journey towards the fourth, fifth innings is going to be easier than the first two innings.”
[6]Uber to roll out thousands of robo-cabs built by China’s Baidu
[7]Rideshare companies in India are asking for tips before the trip
[8]It takes one click to join Uber One, but quitting might need 32 actions
[9]Uber CEO warns robotaxis can't find a fast route to commercial viability
On Uber’s earnings call, Khosrowshahi discussed its adoption of autonomous vehicles and said the company is still “very, very early” in its exploration of robo-cabs.
“I think the commercialization is going to take time,” he said, adding that the company’s autonomous cab experiments in Austin and Atlanta are going “really well in terms of utilization.”
In both cities “the average Waymo is busier than 99% of our drivers in terms of completed trips per day,” he said.
That’s not necessarily bad news for humans, because Khosrowshahi said Uber is paying some of its drivers to perform tasks like data labeling, translation, map labeling, and tuning algorithms, to help it develop AI.
[10]
“It's using the core Uber capability, which is sending out tasks to earners all over the world, you're just going to see a different kind of earner that is going to work for the really exciting AI developments that you see all over the world,” he said.
Robo-cabs are, however, boosting Uber’s overall business.
“What we're also seeing is that having Waymo's as part of our product is - it looks like it has kind of a positive halo effect on the overall system in terms of people being excited to use an AV [autonomous vehicle].”
“The focus now is how do we bring this product to market as quickly as possible because it looks like from a consumer standpoint and from a safety standpoint, it's a real hit.”
It’s not profitable, however.
CFO Prashanth Mahendra-Rajah admitted as much, but said introducing loss-making services “has been a pretty consistent investment approach for Uber as we go into markets and go into products.”
“We build scale, we build our experience. And then over time, we know exactly the levers that are necessary to turn to get that to profitability.”
Uber could use more profit, as for the quarter ended June 30 it delivered $1.35 billion net income on revenue of $12.65 billion. Those figures represent a 33 percent and 18 percent improvement respectively, but the company’s margins are well below typical measures for tech companies.
Which is probably why it wants to find a way to advertise cheap coffees. ®
Get our [11]Tech Resources
[1] https://s23.q4cdn.com/407969754/files/doc_earnings/2025/q2/transcript/Uber-Q2-25-Prepared-Remarks.pdf
[2] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/aiml&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2aJQk3SyOs7CxP-czG1HNHgAAAMM&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
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[4] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/aiml&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33aJQk3SyOs7CxP-czG1HNHgAAAMM&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[5] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/aiml&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44aJQk3SyOs7CxP-czG1HNHgAAAMM&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[6] https://www.theregister.com/2025/07/16/uber_baidu_robo_taxi_alliance/
[7] https://www.theregister.com/2025/05/23/tiup_before_rideshare_uber_controversy/
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2025/04/22/ftc_sues_uber/
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2025/02/06/uber_fy_2024_av_update/
[10] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/aiml&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33aJQk3SyOs7CxP-czG1HNHgAAAMM&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[11] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
CEO Dara Khosrowshahi discussed the plan in [1]prepared remarks [PDF] delivered ahead of the company’s Q2 results, in which he revealed that customers who use both Uber’s rideshare and delivery services “use Uber more frequently and have retention rates over 35 percent higher than single-business consumers. As a result, cross-platform consumers generate over 3x the Gross Bookings and profits than their single-business peers.”
Promotions can seem anti-consumer to some extent
Today, fewer than one in five Uber customers use both services. The company wants to improve that, then use AI to sell them more stuff.
“Larger and more sophisticated AI models are also improving our ability to encourage cross-platform activity for the right consumers at the right time—for instance, grabbing coffee on your way to the office, or having your groceries delivered right as you arrive at your vacation rental,” Khosrowshahi wrote.
On Uber’s earnings call, the CEO offered another version of the coffee scenario.
[2]
“We're able to pick kind of the right time to send a promotion to you,” he said. “So on your way to work, maybe you pick up a Starbucks coffee with a promotion attached to it. Those kinds of magical experiences have to be hyper-personalized. And again, can be optimized as a result of a bunch of optimization and model kind of tuning work.”
[3]
[4]
“This is a key focus area that’s still in its early innings, and you will continue to see us innovate in both the Uber and Uber Eats apps to supercharge cross-platform activity.”
“What we're trying to have is the best of both worlds, a highly tuned mobility app, a highly tuned delivery app, both of which talk to each other and take targeted moments to promote each other as opposed to kind of broad promotion that can seem … anti-consumer to some extent,” the CEO added.
[5]
Uber has hardly begun to make this happen. “This is a long journey. I think we're in the second inning,” Khosrowshahi said. “With our product teams and our tech teams focused on it … I think the journey towards the fourth, fifth innings is going to be easier than the first two innings.”
[6]Uber to roll out thousands of robo-cabs built by China’s Baidu
[7]Rideshare companies in India are asking for tips before the trip
[8]It takes one click to join Uber One, but quitting might need 32 actions
[9]Uber CEO warns robotaxis can't find a fast route to commercial viability
On Uber’s earnings call, Khosrowshahi discussed its adoption of autonomous vehicles and said the company is still “very, very early” in its exploration of robo-cabs.
“I think the commercialization is going to take time,” he said, adding that the company’s autonomous cab experiments in Austin and Atlanta are going “really well in terms of utilization.”
In both cities “the average Waymo is busier than 99% of our drivers in terms of completed trips per day,” he said.
That’s not necessarily bad news for humans, because Khosrowshahi said Uber is paying some of its drivers to perform tasks like data labeling, translation, map labeling, and tuning algorithms, to help it develop AI.
[10]
“It's using the core Uber capability, which is sending out tasks to earners all over the world, you're just going to see a different kind of earner that is going to work for the really exciting AI developments that you see all over the world,” he said.
Robo-cabs are, however, boosting Uber’s overall business.
“What we're also seeing is that having Waymo's as part of our product is - it looks like it has kind of a positive halo effect on the overall system in terms of people being excited to use an AV [autonomous vehicle].”
“The focus now is how do we bring this product to market as quickly as possible because it looks like from a consumer standpoint and from a safety standpoint, it's a real hit.”
It’s not profitable, however.
CFO Prashanth Mahendra-Rajah admitted as much, but said introducing loss-making services “has been a pretty consistent investment approach for Uber as we go into markets and go into products.”
“We build scale, we build our experience. And then over time, we know exactly the levers that are necessary to turn to get that to profitability.”
Uber could use more profit, as for the quarter ended June 30 it delivered $1.35 billion net income on revenue of $12.65 billion. Those figures represent a 33 percent and 18 percent improvement respectively, but the company’s margins are well below typical measures for tech companies.
Which is probably why it wants to find a way to advertise cheap coffees. ®
Get our [11]Tech Resources
[1] https://s23.q4cdn.com/407969754/files/doc_earnings/2025/q2/transcript/Uber-Q2-25-Prepared-Remarks.pdf
[2] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/aiml&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2aJQk3SyOs7CxP-czG1HNHgAAAMM&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[3] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/aiml&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44aJQk3SyOs7CxP-czG1HNHgAAAMM&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[4] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/aiml&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33aJQk3SyOs7CxP-czG1HNHgAAAMM&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[5] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/aiml&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44aJQk3SyOs7CxP-czG1HNHgAAAMM&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[6] https://www.theregister.com/2025/07/16/uber_baidu_robo_taxi_alliance/
[7] https://www.theregister.com/2025/05/23/tiup_before_rideshare_uber_controversy/
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2025/04/22/ftc_sues_uber/
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2025/02/06/uber_fy_2024_av_update/
[10] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/aiml&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33aJQk3SyOs7CxP-czG1HNHgAAAMM&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[11] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/