Uber Expands Services: Hotels, Boat Rentals, and AI Tools, but Doesn't Aim to Be 'Everything for Everyone'
Uber's Chief Product Officer reveals the company's strategy, including hotel bookings, boat rentals, and a data-collection initiative called AV Labs, while emphasizing that Uber does not want to become an 'everything app.'
Uber is quietly expanding beyond its core ride-hailing and delivery businesses. In an interview with TechCrunch, Chief Product Officer Sachin Kansal detailed new features such as hotel bookings powered by Expedia, boat rentals in Europe, and a 'shop for me' concierge service that allows users to purchase from local stores not listed on Uber Eats.
Kansal describes travel as the third pillar of Uber's business: 'We had rides, then we added eats, and now we are adding travel.' With 1.5 billion trips annually occurring outside users' home cities, travel is a natural extension.
On financial services, Uber focuses on its drivers and couriers with the Uber Pro debit card, while consumers currently use Uber credits tied to the Uber One membership program, which now has 51 million members and accounts for roughly half of bookings. Kansal stresses that Uber does not want to be 'everything for everyone' — in some cases, like boat rentals, the company hands off users to partners, while for Expedia it built a deep integration.
A key new initiative is AV Labs, a six-month-old business unit developing a fleet of sensor-equipped vehicles to collect driving data. This data helps autonomous vehicle partners address the 'long-tail' problem of rare edge cases. Kansal says Uber is not aiming to become an L4 autonomy provider but rather to build a hybrid network of human drivers and autonomous vehicles.
In autonomous driving, Uber recently ended its Waymo pilot in Phoenix but is scaling in Austin and Atlanta with hundreds of vehicles. Kansal notes that Waymo is both a partner and a competitor, and Uber focuses on creating a platform that works with multiple players.
Uber also sells labeled data to generative AI companies, using its earner base to transcribe audio outside of trips. No conversations with riders are recorded. AI features already in use include an earner assistant that suggests where to drive for more earnings, a grocery cart assistant, and voice-based ride requests.
Looking ahead, Kansal envisions a fully agentic Uber that plans and books entire trips, but he cannot commit to a timeline. As CPO, he spends 70–80% of his time perfecting existing products and 20% on new ideas, occasionally driving or delivering himself to experience the product firsthand.
