Key facts
- CEO Dara Khosrowshahi said Uber is taking down rider incentives and using those dollars to fund driver incentives.
- Khosrowshahi said the shift means sometimes higher prices for riders, which he said Uber watches out for.
- CFO Balaji Krishnamurthy said drivers and customers in emerging markets such as Brazil and India face higher fuel prices.
- Khosrowshahi said Uber's algorithms, trained on billions of trips, decide how and where incentive money is spent.
Uber is cutting spending on rider discounts and redirecting the money to incentives that encourage drivers to take more trips and deliveries, CEO Dara Khosrowshahi said on the company's third-quarter earnings call on November 4, 2026. He said rider prices might rise as a result.
The shift reverses last year's approach, when Uber spent more to attract customers to its app. "This year, we're taking down rider incentives, and we're using those dollars to fund driver incentives," Khosrowshahi said on the call. He added that the change "does mean sometimes higher prices for riders, which is something that we watch out for."
Khosrowshahi said Uber has not faced a driver shortage this severe in years. The last time the company discussed increasing extra payments for drivers was in 2021, when the pandemic kept many gig workers off the road. Since then, many drivers have faced lower pay after accounting for expenses, while riders have dealt with higher per-mile fares and longer wait times, according to a study published in September.
Business Insider reported in October 2026 that Uber had offered some US drivers hundreds in incentive payments in fall 2026 ahead of the holiday season. Executives said the problem is broader than the US. Uber is also investing to attract more delivery workers to Uber Eats, Khosrowshahi said.
CFO Balaji Krishnamurthy said drivers and customers in emerging markets such as Brazil and India are being squeezed by higher fuel prices. Fuel prices have risen in the months since the US and Israel started a war with Iran, he said. Khosrowshahi said Uber is spending on driver incentives in those markets too.
Khosrowshahi said AI decides exactly how and where Uber spends its incentive money. He said the company's algorithms are trained on "billions of trips" and make decisions "that humans just can't." "If you have a dollar, what is the maximum predicted return for that dollar?" he said. "The algorithms are making these choices," he added.