‘This drives me crazy’: Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi on why his son won't get the document that was ‘a goal in life’ for him

Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi has identified a trend among younger people. The chief executive of the ride-hailing company said that the trend, evident even in his own household, is that his son has no interest in getting a driver's license. Speaking on a recent episode of The Verge's Decoder podcast, Khosrowshahi revealed that, despite being over 18, his son has chosen ridesharing services over learning to drive, a shift the Uber chief believes reflects changing attitudes toward car ownership among Gen Z.“This drives me crazy. My son is over 18… I’m still trying to get my son to get his driver’s license, but Uber’s freed him up,” Khosrowshahi said. For Khosrowshahi, obtaining a driver's license was “a goal in life” and represented personal freedom. However, he said the convenience of ridesharing has reduced the urgency for many young people to reach that milestone.According to Khosrowshahi, the growing availability of rideshare services is “absolutely having an effect on car ownership,” particularly among younger generations who increasingly rely on app-based transportation instead of owning or driving vehicles.Government data suggests the trend extends beyond ridesharing alone, a Fortune report claims. According to the US Department of Transportation's Federal Highway Administration, the percentage of 18-year-olds holding driver's licenses fell from 80% in 1983 to 60% in 2022. Among 16-year-olds, the share has declined by more than a quarter since 2000.Research has suggested several reasons for the shift. A 2013 University of Michigan study of 618 adults without driver's licenses found that 37% said they were too busy to obtain one, while 32% cited the cost of vehicle ownership and maintenance. About one-third said they relied on rides from other people. Khosrowshahi suggested increasing urbanisation may also be contributing to the decline in driving among younger people.The trend has been echoed by many young adults. One 24-year-old from Philadelphia told The Washington Post in 2023: “My parents put a lot of pressure on me to get one. But I haven’t needed one to this point. If there’s an emergency, I’ll call an Uber or 911.”As younger consumers increasingly opt for ridesharing, companies have introduced services designed specifically for teenagers. Uber launched teen accounts three years ago, allowing users under 18 to travel independently while giving parents access to safety features such as live trip tracking and direct communication with drivers.Other companies have adopted similar approaches. Waymo offers robotaxi services for teenagers in parts of Phoenix and Los Angeles, while Lyft introduced its own teen-focused accounts earlier this year.“Teens want—like every teen ever—independence. They want to be able to go and do their own thing. And parents want something that is reliable and safe and affordable, and that’s what we’re trying to design,” Lyft CEO David Risher told Fortune. Khosrowshahi has long argued that ridesharing could gradually reduce the need for personal vehicle ownership. Ahead of Uber's 2019 public listing, he compared the company's potential impact on transportation to the way streaming services changed television consumption.“We and our competition are slowly de-bundling what I call the car bundle. Now, you don’t have to use a car to go out to dinner, or you don’t have to use a car to take your kids to school, etc, etc. Each of these occasions is being replaced by an on-demand occasion,” Khosrowshahi told CNBC at the time.Despite those ambitions, vehicle ownership remains widespread. Federal Highway Administration data shows vehicle registrations in the United States increased from about 263 million in 2015 to more than 284 million in 2023. At the same time, the average age of vehicles on the road has continued to rise, indicating that some consumers may be holding onto cars longer rather than purchasing new ones.Uber has also introduced lower-cost transportation options such as Route Share, a shuttle-style service operating on fixed routes. While some critics have compared the feature to public transportation, Khosrowshahi said the company views it as complementary to buses and trains rather than a direct competitor. The broader objective remains reducing dependence on personal vehicles, he added.“It’s going to take a lot of work to get there. We’re less than 3% of miles traveled on the road even though we’re a very big company,” he said.