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Uber Technologies will lay off \u200babout 3,300 employees, or 10% of staff, in its largest cuts since the COVID-19 pandemic, to better navigate the \u200crise of robotaxis encroaching on its ride-hailing business.<\/strong><\/p>\n The cuts will flatten management layers, reducing organizational complexity that was built during a period of rapid growth but is now proving a hurdle to decision-making, CEO Dara Khosrowshahi said in a note to employees on Wednesday.<\/p>\n Unlike several tech executives, Khosrowshahi did not blame the cuts \u200bon AI even as a push to adopt the technology and the efficiencies it can unlock have driven large cuts in the industry this \u200byear, with tracking website layoffs.fyi putting the overall number at over 123,000 across nearly 390 companies.<\/p>\n \u201cA leaner organization \u2060will mean clearer ownership, faster decisions, and more time spent building rather than coordinating. It will also generate savings that we intend \u200bto reinvest in growth, innovation, and the capabilities that will matter most over the coming years,\u201d Khosrowshahi said.<\/p>\n Uber shares rose nearly 2%. The stock \u200bhas underperformed the S&P 500 and rival Lyft this year with a near 8% decline driven by worries about growing competition.<\/p>\n DoorDash, Instacart and local delivery platforms have been putting pressure on Uber Eats, forcing the company to turn to deals such as its $14.8 billion Delivery Hero acquisition to build scale and compete better.<\/p>\n Some of the concern stems from reports of growing tension between Uber and Waymo, the biggest U.S. robotaxi operator, which runs \u200bits cars through Uber\u2019s app in Austin and Atlanta.<\/p>\n Waymo has also been expanding into new markets without Uber, while rivals such as Tesla double down on \u200crobotaxis, feeding \u2060fears that a growing fleet of driverless cars could erode Uber\u2019s lucrative role as the middleman between vehicles and riders.<\/p>\n To defend its position, Uber plans to put more than $10 billion into robotaxis in the coming years, backing the companies developing autonomous-driving systems and positioning itself as a go-to marketplace for driverless rides.<\/p>\n \u201cAs AV tech and relationships grow and expand \u2013 there is a different type of employee needed to scale that business \u200bthan one built around human drivers \u200band all the cost to \u2060serve entailed with that, including management layers,\u201d said Adam Ballantyne, analyst at Uber shareholder Cambiar Investors.<\/p>\n As part of Wednesday\u2019s overhaul, Uber will reduce the number of employees positioned seven or more reporting layers below the \u200bCEO by 20% and cut the number of teams with only one or two direct reports \u200bby nearly half. It \u2060will also combine some teams and concentrate much of its staff presence around key hubs.<\/p>\n It will also limit fully remote roles to about 1% of staff, while maintaining its three-day office policy.<\/p>\n The layoffs, first reported by Bloomberg News, are Uber\u2019s largest since May 2020, when a pandemic-driven demand \u2060collapse forced \u200bit to shed 6,700 jobs, or nearly a quarter of its staff.<\/p>\n The company is \u200balso grappling with AI costs after employees used up their entire 2026 budget for the technology in just four months, according to media reports.<\/p>\n Uber had about 34,000 employees \u200bglobally at the end of last year, according to its annual report.<\/p>\n<\/div>\nGROWING \u200bROBOTAXI COMPETITION<\/strong><\/h2>\n