Uber is cutting around 3,300 corporate jobs worldwide in its biggest round of redundancies since the Covid-19 pandemic.
The ride-hailing company confirmed the restructuring on Wednesday, 2 September 2026, with approximately 10% of its global workforce affected.
Uber employed around 34,000 people globally at the end of 2025, according to figures reported in its annual report.
The cuts are focused on simplifying the company’s management structure and reducing the amount of internal coordination required to make decisions.
Chief executive Dara Khosrowshahi told employees that Uber had grown substantially during the past five years but that the expansion had also created additional layers of management, fragmented responsibilities and increasingly complicated internal structures.
The restructuring will reduce the number of employees sitting seven or more reporting layers below Uber’s chief executive by around 20%.
Uber is also cutting the number of very small teams with only one or two direct reports by almost half.
Some operational and technology teams will be combined as part of the changes.
The company is additionally tightening its approach to remote working.
Uber expects only around 1% of its workforce to remain in fully remote roles, while its existing policy requiring employees to attend an office three days each week will continue.
The company has not disclosed how many jobs will be lost in individual countries, meaning it is currently unclear how many positions will be affected at Uber’s UK operations, including its London office.
The changes do not refer to Uber drivers or couriers, who operate separately from Uber’s corporate employee workforce.
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One of the most significant factors surrounding Uber’s longer-term strategy is the rapid development of autonomous vehicles.
Robotaxi companies such as Waymo are expanding their operations, while Tesla and several other technology and vehicle manufacturers are also developing driverless ride services.
Uber increasingly wants its app to become a marketplace through which passengers can book both human-driven and autonomous journeys.
Reuters reports that Uber plans to invest more than $10 billion in robotaxi-related technology and partnerships over the coming years.
The company is therefore attempting to position itself as a major platform for autonomous transport rather than allowing driverless vehicle operators to bypass Uber and deal directly with passengers.
That transition has particular significance for the private hire industry because Uber’s business was originally built around connecting passengers with human drivers.
The company is already preparing for the introduction of driverless passenger services in the UK through partnerships with autonomous vehicle developers.
Uber’s latest workforce restructuring does not mean that human drivers are being immediately replaced by autonomous vehicles.
However, the scale of investment being directed towards driverless technology shows how central autonomous transport has become to Uber’s future strategy.
The latest 3,300 job losses are Uber’s biggest workforce reduction since May 2020, when the collapse in passenger demand during the pandemic led the company to cut approximately 6,700 positions.
Despite the latest restructuring, Uber says its underlying business is performing strongly and that the savings generated by a leaner organisation will allow more investment in growth and innovation.
For drivers, passengers and taxi and private hire businesses, the more important long-term question is how quickly Uber’s growing investment in autonomous transport begins to change the way its ride-hailing network actually operates.
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Sources
Reuters – Uber to Lay Off 10% of Staff in Biggest Cuts Since Covid
The Guardian – Uber to Cut 3,300 Corporate Jobs in Management Overhaul
