AI agents barely booking Uber, Airbnb, DoorDash trips
Uber, Airbnb, and DoorDash report minimal bookings from AI agents like Muse and Instinct, suggesting current AI tools are not yet replacing traditional app usage for transactions.
Based on reporting by Jakob Steinschaden (Trending Topics).
AI agents are barely booking rides or hotels yet
Quarterly earnings calls from major tech and travel companies reveal that artificial intelligence agents are currently contributing a negligible share of actual transactions. According to reports from TechCrunch and Business Insider, Uber, Airbnb, DoorDash, and Booking Holdings all indicated that AI-driven bookings remain minimal despite high user adoption rates for these tools. For investors and industry observers, this data suggests that the fear of AI agents displacing established platforms as the primary customer interface has not yet materialized in any significant way.
What the numbers show
The gap between user engagement and transaction volume is stark. Balaji Krishnamurthy, CFO of Uber, stated on the company’s third-quarter call that during Halloween week—a period with approximately 320 million trips and orders—only four total trips were booked via an AI agent. On Uber Eats, the figure was around 500 orders. Krishnamurthy described the traction as "very, very early and very limited."
At Airbnb, CEO Brian Chesky noted that traffic and bookings from agents like Meta’s Muse and the startup Instinct are "very non-material" compared to the company’s nearly 500,000 daily bookings. He added that agent traffic peaked in early October and has not grown since. DoorDash CEO Tony Xu reported "maybe several hundred orders in total" from third-party agents, a tiny fraction of the company’s roughly three million daily deliveries. Booking Holdings reported that significantly below one percent of its room nights come via large language models.
Uber: 4 AI-booked trips and ~500 AI-booked food orders during a peak week of 320 million total transactions.
Airbnb: Agent bookings described as "very non-material" against ~500,000 daily bookings.
DoorDash: Several hundred agent orders against ~3 million daily deliveries.
Booking Holdings: Less than 1% of room nights via AI agents.
Why users aren't switching to agents
Executives suggest that current AI agents are ill-suited for the specific nature of travel and food delivery. Chesky argued that travel is "aspirational" and that the planning process is part of the experience, noting that 80 percent of travelers enjoy planning and 90 percent message their hosts. He pointed out that most Airbnb traffic occurs between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., implying that users are actively engaging with the platform rather than delegating the task to an AI. Uber’s Khosrowshahi noted that booking a ride takes only 50 seconds on average, leaving little time for an agent to save. Users appear to be using agents for research, summarizing, and planning, but still press the "order" button themselves.
What this means for investors and consumers
For investors, the data alleviates immediate concerns that AI agents will erode the market share of established platforms like Airbnb, Uber, and Booking Holdings. Truist analysts had previously cut price targets for Booking and Expedia due to concerns about Muse, but the current earnings data suggests the threat is currently overstated. Expedia, which has integrated with Muse, reports double-digit growth but attributes no specific effect to the agent. For consumers, this means the familiar user interfaces of these apps remain the primary way to book services. There is no immediate need to adopt new AI ordering tools for routine transactions, as the existing apps remain faster and more integrated for simple tasks.
What happens next
Despite the current lack of traction, all major platforms are building their own AI agents. Airbnb is developing a travel-specific agent expected in the first half of 2027, which aims to cover every vertical in travel, including flights and rental cars. Uber and DoorDash are also expanding their own AI capabilities. The industry logic is that while simple tasks like ordering a ride are too fast for agents to add value, complex coordination of multi-step trips may be where AI agents eventually find their niche. Whether third-party agents like Muse and Instinct survive this shift, or if platforms keep the business in-house, remains to be seen. As noted in related coverage, Amazon is boosting Alexa for shopping to counter AI agents, highlighting the broader competitive landscape.
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