Uber and DoorDash Report Minimal AI Agent Adoption Despite Industry Hype

AI Agents Struggle to Gain Traction on Major Platforms

Third-party AI agents have made barely a dent in consumer services, according to recent earnings call disclosures from Uber and DoorDash1

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. During Halloween week, Uber recorded just 4 rides arranged by AI agents out of approximately 320 million total trips and Uber Eats deliveries2

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. Uber Eats saw roughly 500 orders from AI agents during the same period2

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. CFO Balaji Krishnamurthy characterized the situation bluntly during the earnings call: "It is very, very early and very limited traction that we are seeing so far"2

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DoorDash painted a similarly underwhelming picture. CEO Tony Xu revealed that AI agents generated only "several hundred orders" total since third-party AI agents became available1

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. This represents a vanishingly small fraction of the nearly one billion orders DoorDash processed in Q3 2026 alone1

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. For context, the company completes an average of 3 million deliveries daily3

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. Xu called this a "very low use case" in what analysts described as a marked understatement1

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Why Low Adoption of AI Agents Persists

The minimal AI agent adoption stems from fundamental user behavior patterns. Dara Khosrowshahi, Uber CEO, pointed out that booking a ride takes only 50 seconds in the Uber app, while re-ordering favorite food requires just 90 seconds2

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. When tasks are this quick and straightforward, AI agents don't offer meaningful time savings. Tony Xu echoed this sentiment, noting that "when it comes to a task that's as simple as ordering food, we tend to see that come directly to DoorDash"1

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The timing factor matters too. DoorDash only rolled out its Model Context Protocol connector less than a month before the earnings call1

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. This standardized interface enables third-party AI agents to order through DoorDash more easily, but it remains available only to a small number of early beta partners and primarily serves corporate lunch orders1

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. Without such infrastructure, AI agents must navigate web interfaces manually, adding friction to the process.

Platform Disintermediation Concerns Remain Distant

Some experts have predicted that AI agents from companies like Meta's Muse, OpenAI's Dots, and Instinct could threaten platform disintermediation4

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. In this scenario, customers would use AI agents to order food or book rides rather than visiting apps directly. The current numbers suggest this risk remains theoretical. "We do think that we want to make services that are available to consumers in a delightful, easy way. We think our direct services are going to be the most delightful and easy, but we will work with these third parties," Khosrowshahi said during the earnings call4

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Both companies are hedging their bets by developing proprietary AI tools. DoorDash launched Ask DoorDash in June, which allows users to place orders through prompts and photos3

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. The company reports that Ask DoorDash baskets get built five times faster than traditional orders, with average basket values nearly 50% higher and about 60% more unique items1

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. Nearly half of Ask DoorDash orders go to local spots consumers have never tried before, helping with restaurant discovery1

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. Uber's Cart Assistant for Uber Eats builds grocery lists from recipe images or text prompts, generating shopping baskets roughly twice the average size4

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Cautious Optimism Amid Broader Business Growth

Despite limited third-party AI adoption, both executives maintained measured optimism about future possibilities. "We hope that there will be more traction," Khosrowshahi said, adding that Uber wants to ensure it's not dependent on any single player4

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. Drawing from his experience in online travel where Google dominated customer acquisition, he noted: "I used to work in the travel business where we were dependent on the Googles of the world. I don't want to go back there"5

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. Uber is actively negotiating terms with approximately eight major AI assistants currently on the market, with Khosrowshahi expecting that number to exceed 102

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Tony Xu offered philosophical perspective: "My take on all things technology is you never want to fight gravity. But at the same time, you don't want to be delusional"1

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. He sees potential for AI agents in "long consideration purchases" where agents work proactively in the background, but remains realistic about current AI for food ordering applications1

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Meanwhile, core business metrics remain strong. Uber reported third-quarter gross bookings of $59.8 billion, up 20% year-over-year, with revenue climbing 10% to $14.8 billion5

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. Quarterly trips increased 16% to 4.1 billion5

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. Watch whether AI-driven transactions accelerate as infrastructure improves and more consumers experiment with AI in consumer services, or whether the simplicity of direct app usage continues dominating ride-hailing and food delivery behaviors.