Uber’s Chief Operating Officer Andrew Macdonald said on May 30 that the company is struggling to justify its increasing artificial intelligence costs, as higher token consumption has not led to a proportional rise in useful features for users. Macdonald said Uber will have to weigh these expenses against headcount moving forward.
The comments come after Uber Chief Technology Officer Praveen Neppalli Naga disclosed in April that the company had exhausted its entire 2026 Claude Code budget just four months into the year, which Macdonald described as a “head-exploding moment.” Uber reported that AI coding tools reached 95% monthly adoption among engineers and that AI agents are now writing more than one in ten lines of code. The company spent $3.4 billion on research and development in 2025, up nine percent from the previous year, and is slowing hiring to offset increased investment in AI.
In other developments, Uber has increased its stake in Germany’s Delivery Hero to 36.8% of voting rights following a takeover proposal valuing Delivery Hero at €33 per share. The Massachusetts Department of Labor Relations certified the App Drivers Union last week, making it the first officially recognized union representing app-based gig workers in the United States. The union represents nearly 70,000 rideshare drivers who work as independent contractors under state law passed after a November 2024 ballot measure.
A recent incident involving Waymo saw a robotaxi end a ride early near downtown San Francisco due to planned protest activity, prompting Waymo support staff to advise the passenger to seek another ride with services such as Uber or Lyft. This follows reports of other operational challenges for Waymo vehicles this month.
Lyft CEO David Risher announced efforts targeting corporate travel clients through bundled perks and partnerships following profitability improvements over recent years. Risher said Lyft will continue partnering with autonomous vehicle developers, rather than building self-driving cars internally.
