Uber is promoting Balaji Krishnamurthy, vice president of strategic finance and investor relations, to chief financial officer (CFO), replacing current finance chief Prashant Mahendra-Raja.
Krishnamurthy has been with Uber for more than six years, spending most of her tenure in the company’s investor relations department. The appointment may signal the company’s driverless investments and expansion plans, as he frequently posts about the company’s autonomous ride-hailing efforts and also holds a seat on the board of AV company Wabi.
Indeed, during the company’s fourth quarter earnings call on Wednesday, Krishnamurthy said the company will invest capital in AV software partners, work with AV manufacturers through equity investments and offtake agreements, and “support our AV infrastructure partners.”
“With strong free cash flow growth, we are investing with discipline in a number of opportunities over the next few years, including positioning Uber to win in the AV space of the future,” Krishnamurthy said in a statement detailing the company’s fourth-quarter results.
Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi said on a conference call that he believes self-driving cars “open up a multitrillion-dollar opportunity” for the company, adding that self-driving cars “fundamentally amplify” the strengths of the company’s platform.
“By the end of 2026, we plan to facilitate AV travel in up to 15 cities around the world, with a roughly even distribution of U.S. and international cities. And by 2029, we intend to be the world’s largest promoter of AV travel,” Khosrowshahi said.
Over the past two years, Uber has amassed partnerships with at least 20 self-driving vehicle companies across a variety of use cases, including sidewalk delivery robots, robotaxis, and trucking. Waymo is perhaps the most high-profile partner operating shared robotaxis in Atlanta and Austin. It also signed deals with Avride, UK-based Wayve, Chinese company WeRide, Momenta and Volkswagen.
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We also make direct investments in AV startups. For example, Waabi recently announced a $750 million Series C funding round. This includes up to an additional $250 million from Uber (upon reaching certain milestones) to support the deployment of more than 25,000 robotaxis on the platform. Uber is also investing in Silicon Valley-based Nuro and Lucid as part of a deal to launch a premium robo-taxi service.
Uber said its revenue rose 20% year over year to $14.37 billion in the fourth quarter due to strong demand for its food delivery service.
Mahendra Raja is retiring from Uber after three years with the company.
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