According to Fortune, Grab CEO Anthony Tan announced the company will roll out robotaxis in Singapore starting early 2026, building on recent autonomous vehicle investments. The ride-hailing giant reported $873 million in Q3 revenue, up 22% year-over-year, with ride-hailing specifically growing 17% to $317 million. Grab invested in Chinese robotaxi operator WeRide and U.S.-based May Mobility, while also raising its full-year profit forecast to between $480-500 million in adjusted EBITDA for 2025. Despite this growth, shares fell 4.7% as net income only slightly improved from $15 million to $17 million year-over-year. Tan suggested current drivers could transition to roles like remote safety operators and data labelers as automation advances.
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The driver transition reality check
Here’s the thing about that “upskilling” narrative – it sounds great in earnings calls, but the math doesn’t quite add up. Tan admitted robotaxis face a “steeper hill to climb” in Southeast Asia because human drivers are simply cheaper than autonomous technology. Basically, when you’re paying drivers relatively low wages compared to developed markets, replacing them with expensive sensor arrays and complex AI systems becomes an economic puzzle. And let’s be honest – how many remote safety operator positions can realistically replace millions of driving jobs across the region? It feels like we’ve heard this “they’ll just learn to code” story before in other industries.
The autonomous investments timing
Grab’s pouring money into AV technology right when the entire industry is hitting some serious speed bumps. They’re investing in WeRide and May Mobility while companies like Cruise are scaling back operations and others are missing deployment targets. The autonomous vehicle space has been full of overpromising and underdelivering for years now. So why is Grab doubling down? It seems like they’re playing the long game, betting that being first in Southeast Asia will pay off eventually. But “considerable time for unit economics to reach parity” sounds suspiciously like “we’re spending a lot of money on something that might not make financial sense for years.”
Earnings mixed signals
Look at those numbers again – revenue growing strongly across all segments, but net income barely budging. The market clearly wasn’t impressed, sending shares down nearly 5%. When you’re spending heavily on futuristic tech while your core business profitability remains sluggish, investors get nervous. The AI integration story sounds impressive – 98% of engineers using AI tools, speech recognition accuracy jumping from 46% to 90% – but does that actually translate to bottom-line results? Or is this another case of tech companies chasing shiny objects while the fundamentals struggle?
What’s next for Grab
The real question isn’t whether robotaxis are coming – they clearly are. The question is whether this transition makes sense for a company operating in markets where human labor remains relatively inexpensive. Tan’s talking about “new kinds of jobs” emerging, but history shows that technological displacement rarely creates equal replacement opportunities. And let’s not forget the regulatory hurdles – Singapore might be friendly to autonomous vehicles, but what about the rest of Southeast Asia? This feels like a bet that could either position Grab as the regional transportation leader of the future or become a massive money pit. Either way, the human drivers who built their business might be left wondering what exactly their “upskilled” future looks like.
