Martin Bradstreet
Investor & Programmer, Former Poker Player
Uber is cheap because it is priced as a self-driving loser, yet self-driving tech should become commoditized, making off-peak demand management the key differentiator; if private cars become autonomous and shared, Uber would likely manage that. Its own autonomous plans look viable, a Delivery Hero takeover would be very good, and Appaloosa, which did well buying Lyft, is very long. Longer term, managing fleets of shared robots for cleaning, cooking or home care could be big. x.comÂ
Uber looks cheap, and insiders who know the company best are buying, a point @SteurJonas69716 raises. The stock is a solid buy as long as robotaxis do not kill the business, which is doubtful. x.com x.comÂ
Uber's network effects could make it the app robotaxi fleets need to keep their cars fully operational. It is one of the best platforms on earth and a five-year buy at today's valuation, with opportunity too compelling to pass up despite shares falling about 25% in the past year on robotaxi fears. Bookings grew 24% last quarter and trailing free cash flow exceeded $10 billion. Waymo and Tesla could choose to bypass Uber; Waymo already runs its own app in most of its cities. x.comÂ
Uber looks rather negative because driver reclassification, consumer cutbacks and easy switching threaten its business. Making drivers employees could raise costs and push ride prices up around 40%. Food delivery and comfort rides are cut when budgets tighten; riders switch to Lyft or Bolt for a few euros. Tesla or Waymo could bypass Uber with their own apps, and Google can scale quickly. Despite being a great company, Uber has too many unknowns; it is preferable to stay on the sidelines. x.comÂ
Uber's asset-light platform makes it a direct winner of autonomous driving, because AV operators can't match its network's dispatch efficiency. AV rides on Uber grew over 10x year over year in Q1 2026, with launches in up to 15 cities by end-2026, and Waymo partners rather than competes. Its 200M+ monthly users cut empty miles, and human drivers add elastic capacity. It made about $9.8B of 2025 free cash flow, Q1 bookings rose 21% to $53.7B, and buying Delivery Hero could lift bookings to $160B. … Show more
Uber trades at its lowest valuation since its IPO on fears that autonomous vehicles will make it obsolete, yet it is firing on all cylinders and positioning as the AV distribution layer. It already has 14 AV partners including Waymo, and city-by-city regulation favors its global network. Its driver-rider flywheel gives it 75% US share against Lyft. Uber One's 30 million members spend twice as much and drive 40% of bookings, and free cash flow has gone from negative to strongly positive. x.comÂ
Uber's demand-side scale could let it aggregate fragmented or commoditized autonomous vehicle supply, though judging by the stock price nobody believes this. @WaterworldCapi1 argues autonomy at scale removes the need for its driver network and invites many competitors. But scaling rivals may not be cheap, Uber need not build its own fleets, and the shift will take decades, giving a hybrid network time. The stock becomes interesting only if the price gets low enough. x.com x.com x.com x.comÂ
Uber is the toll booth on urban movement: while the market debates whether robotaxis kill it, every autonomous player keeps partnering with Uber for its demand network. Trailing-twelve-month free cash flow topped $10 billion for the first time, with gross bookings up 22%. x.comÂ
Robotaxis could widen Uber's moat rather than destroy it, because its real advantage is the network matching huge pools of demand with whatever supply is available, not drivers' lack of negotiating power. Robotaxis change the supply but don't eliminate the network. The question is whether Uber becomes the toll road for autonomous mobility, letting Waymo and dozens of competing AV suppliers fight over the economics while Uber owns the customer, demand and dispatch layer. x.comÂ
Uber has big long-term secular problems, enough to make even CEO Dara Khosrowshahi's $10M token insider buy a moment to consider shorting, though actually shorting is not recommended. Beyond the Waymo and robotaxi threat, an AI agent that constantly checks every app for the best price would hurt Uber, consistently the highest-priced ride service. Uber would need to lower prices, and it lacks the tech stack. x.com x.comÂ
Uber's network could become more important in an autonomous world, not less, which the market underestimates. Robotaxi fleets will still need someone to aggregate demand, optimize utilization, route supply, handle payments and bring liquidity to both sides, and Uber already has those layers plus relationships in almost every major city as autonomy rolls out market by market. The chart is ending a two-year $50-80 consolidation above its prior breakout zone. x.comÂ
