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Uber Robotaxi: Uber reported strong second quarter earnings on Wednesday.
The company topped Wall Street's expectations for both bookings and profit. Still, shares dropped more than 6% during the session.
The decline came after Uber issued third quarter bookings guidance that fell short of analyst forecasts.
Uber projects third quarter gross bookings between $58.25 billion and $60.25 billion.
The midpoint of $59.25 billion missed the $59.32 billion consensus estimate compiled by Bloomberg.
Gross bookings track the total dollar value of all rides and orders completed on Uber's platform, including Uber Eats deliveries.
Uber CFO Balaji Krishnamurthy pointed to currency pressures as a factor.
He said a roughly one percentage-point currency headwind is expected to weigh on year-over-year growth.
For the second quarter, Uber posted gross bookings of $58.0 billion. That topped the $57.17 billion analysts had expected.
The figure marked a 24% increase from a year earlier. Adjusted earnings per share came in at $0.81, matching estimates.
Adjusted EBITDA reached $2.82 billion, ahead of the $2.79 billion consensus. That represents 33% growth year over year.
CEO Dara Khosrowshahi highlighted the company's momentum in a statement.
He said Uber's platform advantage keeps compounding, citing record consumer numbers and engagement alongside profitable growth.
He added that the company is investing from a position of strength as it works to build the world's largest platform for autonomous vehicles.
Uber's autonomous vehicle strategy is becoming central to its growth story.
Rather than developing self-driving technology in-house, Uber is positioning itself as a demand-matching platform for robotaxis.
The company connects autonomous vehicle supply from partner companies to its existing network as those fleets expand into new cities.
Uber also announced a new development in its partnership with autonomous software company Wayve.
London has granted licenses allowing the partnership to begin testing this summer.
Uber previously worked with Alphabet's Waymo on its platform. That relationship is now winding down.
Uber has since turned to new partners, including Lucid, Rivian and Nissan, to help build out its own robotaxi networks.
The company has committed to investing more than $10 billion in such partnerships over the coming years.
Khosrowshahi said Uber remains on track to operate robotaxis in as many as 15 cities by year's end.
He believes autonomous vehicle investments strengthen the broader "flywheel" effect across Uber's platform.
During the earnings call, Khosrowshahi pointed to early data supporting that view.
He said autonomous vehicle deployments appear to be driving incremental growth for the category overall.
In more mature markets like Los Angeles, San Francisco and Phoenix, he said Uber's category share has grown both citywide and within AV operating zones compared to a year ago.
Uber's core business also showed strength outside the robotaxi push. Trips rose 18% to 3.87 billion during the quarter.
Monthly active platform consumers climbed 16% to 208 million. Uber said it gained more first-time users over the past year than in any other period in the past five years.
By segment, Mobility bookings grew 22% to $28.99 billion. Delivery bookings rose 26% to $27.46 billion.
Adjusted EBITDA for the two segments increased 28% and 38%, respectively.
Visual Disclaimer: This is an AI-generated illustrative portrait. It is used for creative representation and does not depict a real-time event. Created by AD News Live.
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