Uber COO predicts car ownership will vanish and driver’s licenses become obsolete
Uber president and COO Andrew Macdonald said on the 20VC podcast that within the next two decades most people will forgo owning cars and may no longer need driver’s licenses.
In a recent 20VC interview, Uber’s president and chief operating officer Andrew Macdonald warned that personal car ownership could become a relic within 15-20 years, reducing the relevance of driver’s licenses. He cited a 30% rise in vehicle prices over six years and the fact that cars are unused 98% of the day as evidence of economic inefficiency. Macdonald sees a multimodal transport ecosystem that includes bikes, scooters, public transit and autonomous vehicles, and notes Uber’s growing role as a marketplace for driverless cars through collaborations with Waymo and Waabi.
He also reflected on his 14-year career at Uber, describing himself as an “execution machine” and emphasizing trust-building and deep business knowledge as his core principles. Uber’s CEO Dara Khosrowshahi echoed a similar timeline for robot-driven rides, while Elon Musk’s broader forecasts about AI-driven abundance were also mentioned.
Why it matters
The outlook could reshape personal mobility, the auto market and the demand for driver’s licenses in the coming decades.
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