Uber’s launch of an OpenAI-powered AI assistant underscores how tech companies are turning to AI in order to reduce their impact on the environment.
Uber plans to debut an AI assistant next year, leveraging OpenAI’s flagship technology to ease drivers through the transition to electric vehicles and advance its environmental goals. The initiative reflects a broader strategic shift as companies turn to AI to address sustainability challenges, even as the energy demands of such technologies come under scrutiny.
The ride-hailing giant announced the chatbot at its Go-Get Zero product event in London on Tuesday. It will leverage OpenAI’s latest and most advanced model, GPT-4o, to answer drivers’ questions about buying and using EVs as opposed to gas-powered cars.
Uber acknowledged that “going electric is a big decision,” adding that ”drivers have lots of questions,” often about things like cost and practicalities. The company claims the new assistant will “help drivers get answers to every EV question under the sun.” Answers will be personalized according to the driver’s profile, city and available government incentives to ensure answers are relevant for drivers, Uber said.
Uber said the chatbot will launch in early 2025 in the United States and will later expand to include other locations, though it did not specify a timeline or what cities it would expand into.
Drivers will be able to access the chatbot from the home screen of the platform’s driver app, Uber said.
CEO Dara Khosrowshahi said the assistant, one of numerous EV and climate-based initiatives announced at the London event, will be in beta testing “for the next few months.” At launch, the bot will feature the EV specific questions in addition to a “few other use cases,” Khosrowshahi said.
The ride-hailing platform also has plans to expand the AI service in the future, according to news reports. While initially text-based, an Uber spokesperson told TechCrunch it plans to introduce voice and audio components to the chatbot in the future.
The AI assistant represents one of the many steps Uber says it is making toward a more sustainable future and the approach reflects how companies are increasingly turning to AI technologies to shape corporate strategies and climate initiatives.