Uber Appoints New CFO as Its Autonomous Vehicle Plans Accelerate

Uber is promoting Balaji Krishnamurthy, its vice president of strategic finance and investor relations, to chief financial officer. He will replace current CFO Prashanth Mahendra-Rajah, who is leaving the company after three years.

Krishnamurthy has spent more than six years at Uber, with most of his tenure focused on investor relations. He has frequently spoken publicly about Uber’s autonomous ride-hailing strategy and also serves on the board of autonomous vehicle startup Waabi. His appointment is widely seen as a signal that Uber intends further to expand its investments and operations in driverless technology.

That direction was reinforced during Uber’s fourth-quarter earnings call on Wednesday, where Krishnamurthy said the company plans to invest capital directly in its autonomous-vehicle software partners, work with AV manufacturers through equity investments or offtake agreements, and continue supporting companies building autonomous infrastructure.

“With large and growing free cash flows, over the coming years we will invest with discipline across a multitude of opportunities, including positioning Uber to win in an AV future,” Krishnamurthy wrote in a statement accompanying the company’s Q4 earnings release.

Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi echoed that vision on the call, saying he believes autonomous vehicles will “unlock a multitrillion-dollar opportunity” for the company. He added that autonomy “fundamentally amplifies” the strengths of Uber’s platform.

“By the end of 2026, we expect to be facilitating AV trips in as many as 15 cities globally, with a roughly even split of U.S. and international cities,” Khosrowshahi said. “And by 2029, we intend to be the largest facilitator of AV trips in the world.”

Over the past two years, Uber has built partnerships with at least 20 autonomous vehicle companies across multiple use cases, including sidewalk delivery robots, robotaxis, and autonomous trucking. One of its most high-profile relationships is with Waymo, with shared robotaxi operations already underway in Atlanta and Austin.

Uber has also signed agreements with Avride, the UK-based Wayve, and Chinese autonomous-vehicle companies WeRide and Momenta, as well as Volkswagen, among others.

Beyond partnerships, Uber has made direct investments in several AV startups. Waabi recently announced a $750 million Series C funding round, which includes up to an additional $250 million commitment from Uber, contingent on hitting certain milestones. The funding is intended to support the deployment of 25,000 or more robotaxis on Uber’s platform.

Uber has also invested in Nuro and Lucid as part of a plan to launch a premium robotaxi service.

Financially, Uber reported fourth-quarter revenue of $14.37 billion, a 20% year-over-year increase, mainly driven by strong demand for its food delivery business.

Mahendra-Rajah’s departure marks another leadership transition as Uber positions itself for a future increasingly shaped by autonomous mobility.