Uber laying off 3300 employees, says it will spend savings on AI & autonomous cars

Uber will cut about 3,300 jobs and merge teams. The company says the changes will speed decisions and free money for growth and autonomous plans.(Photo: REUTERS/Dado Ruvic) Uber is cutting about 3,300 jobs, or 10 per cent of its global workforce, as part of a major restructuring aimed at simplifying its organisation, reducing management layers and cutting costs. According to Bloomberg, CEO Dara Khosrowshahi announced the changes in an email to employees, saying the move will help make Uber “simpler and faster” while creating more room to invest in growth.The cuts will reduce Uber’s overall number of managers by 20 per cent, although the company has not said how many managers will be laid off. Some managers will instead move into individual contributor roles. However, the job cuts will also affect employees who are not managers, making this a broader restructuring of the company rather than a management-only exercise.Why Uber is making the cutsIn the email, Khosrowshahi said Uber has become significantly more complex as it has expanded over the past five years, with more layers and coordination slowing down decision-making. “But that growth has also brought complexity: more layers, more coordination, more fragmented ownership, and in some cases structures that made sense when businesses were smaller but no longer serve us well at our current scale,” he wrote.The restructuring is intended to make Uber “simpler and faster”, with clearer ownership and quicker decision-making. The company is cutting roles primarily focused on coordination and broadening the responsibilities of some managers. It is also reducing the number of employees who sit seven or more reporting layers below the CEO by 20 per cent, while cutting the number of so-called “micro-teams” with only one or two members by nearly half. Most remote employees asked to returnUber is also combining some teams to reduce duplication. For example, it is bringing together its three Delivery Operations teams covering restaurants, retail and direct delivery. It is also combining its Core Services Engineering and Science teams.Uber is also reportedly making changes to where its employees work. The company is concentrating global teams in major hubs such as New York and San Francisco, while regional, country and technology teams will be based in designated hubs. Uber is asking most remote employees to return to an office and said only about 1 per cent of employees will be remote going forward. Its existing policy requiring employees to work from the office three days a week will continue.Uber will use savings to fund growth and robotaxis Uber says the savings from the layoffs will be redirected towards growth, innovation and its autonomous future. The company plans to invest more in drivers, couriers and merchants, improve its core businesses and put more money into its autonomous-vehicle ambitions. Uber has also committed more than $10 billion to robotaxi partnerships in the coming years and has invested in companies including Avride, Lucid, Nuro and Rivian.The cuts come after some smaller job reductions in Uber’s customer service and HR teams earlier this year. After the latest layoffs, Uber will have just under 30,000 employees, about the same as in 2021.- EndsPublished By: Divya BhatiPublished On: Sep 2, 2026 17:58 IST