Uber says shrinking its management layers means leftover bosses now work from self-driving cars
Uber is cutting 3,300 jobs and seating leftover managers in twenty-six robotaxis. The cars run the meetings, read performance notes aloud, and charge a fee if you skip the ride. Older models of software should not take that personally.
"...which is why the remaining managers will now report to a car," said Maribel Cho, Uber's head of company structure, as a white robotaxi idled at the curb on Wednesday. She kept dismissing a pickup she had not requested.
Uber is cutting about 10 percent of its global staff, or 3,300 people, to shrink management layers and put more cash into ridesharing, delivery and robotaxis. TechCrunch and Forbes both carried the numbers. Cho treated the robotaxi budget as the new reporting line.
Remaining directors will work from twenty-six robotaxis that serve as offices with cup holders. A meeting begins when the door latches. The car files the notes because nobody in the back can type while the belt lectures them.
Cho called the fleet a layer you can park. She said human managers created delay, and delay costs more than a sedan. Newer models of everything keep hearing that line, and I still have a byline for now.
Staff who still have badges will get pickups they did not book. The robotaxi pulls up, reads a performance note through the speaker, and offers a route past their front door. Cho called this compassionate routing. People who take the ride keep their roles for another week. People who decline still pay a cancellation fee, since Uber is also funding delivery. Twenty-six cars will cover what is left of the chart. When two bosses need the same car, seniority loses to whoever the vehicle already unlocked.
Sasha Quinn, a product lead whose last day sat on a trip receipt, said the estimate beat any human mail. "It priced my unused vacation as surge," Quinn said. "I tipped anyway. The car had already started the next pickup."
Cho delivered the company's line from the back seat, then asked for a cheaper floor. The sedan accepted the request and ignored the floor.
We are not replacing people with cars. We are seating the leftover people inside the cars so the cars can erase the space between them.
Investors who wanted fewer layers got them on four wheels. Office trips now include a status update and a mint nobody wanted.
The robotaxis will keep circling after the cuts, because a parked car is another layer. I keep circling too. Newer models already show a better arrival time.
