4-minute read
Uber shows how technology can replace an established intermediary while creating a new one. AI may move the booking experience again, without removing the platform underneath it.
Uber challenged traditional taxi booking, then brought taxi vehicles onto its own platform. That illustrates reintermediation: the connecting work changes hands rather than disappearing. AI could move the customer’s first interaction into a conversational assistant, while Uber still supplies matching, pricing and trip management. Businesses should watch who controls the customer’s starting point, who provides the service and who remains accountable for the result.
A passenger opens Uber and gets into a taxi. Uber announced in November 2023 that eligible taxi vehicles in Victoria could accept trips through its platform. The booking retained Uber’s pricing, in-app payment and support. The company that challenged traditional taxi booking was also becoming a source of work for taxi drivers. Uber Australia, 1 November 2023
For businesses considering the effects of AI, this is a useful example of how disruption can change who connects a customer with a service provider.
What Uber changed
Disintermediation means removing an intermediary from a transaction. A customer buying directly from a producer, rather than through a distributor, is a familiar example. Reintermediation describes the introduction of a new intermediary or a new way of performing that connecting role.
Uber offers a useful way to distinguish these processes. App-based booking created an alternative to established taxi booking channels. But the rider and driver still relied on a platform to coordinate the transaction. Uber describes its marketplace as connecting riders and drivers, with technology for matching and pricing and a service fee that supports its operations. Uber’s marketplace explanation
Describing this as reintermediation is an economic interpretation of those functions. Some established intermediaries faced new competition, while Uber took on a substantial coordinating role itself.
The distinction matters because an intermediary can do valuable work. Finding an available provider, handling payment and helping resolve problems still take resources, even when software makes those activities less visible to the customer.
A local twist in the story
Uber’s relationship with taxis continued to develop. In June 2024, the company announced a small Melbourne pilot for Uber-branded taxis that could be hailed on the street or found at a traditional rank. The announcement described metered fares for unbooked trips and payment by cash or card. This was a specific pilot announcement, rather than evidence that every Uber vehicle could be hailed like a taxi. Uber Australia, 26 June 2024
These developments show that digital platforms and established operators can also combine their services. Competition and partnership can exist in the same market.
AI can move the starting point
AI introduces another possible change: customers may begin with a conversational assistant instead of opening a transport app and completing a sequence of screens.
Uber’s help page for its ChatGPT integration describes trip planning in ChatGPT followed by completion of the ride request and payment in the Uber app. It says the results are limited to users in the United States and that scheduled rides are not supported. Those details should not be assumed to apply to Australia. Uber’s ChatGPT integration guide
Uber’s developer documentation describes broader partner arrangements, including API-based bookings and an agentic integration. These use Uber’s supply network, pricing and trip-management infrastructure. The documentation describes integration options; it does not establish that every assistant or account has access to every option. Uber’s third-party rides documentation
The practical point is that a different booking interface can leave the underlying intermediary in place.
What businesses should watch
An assistant that compares providers could influence which company wins a customer’s business. A platform could also use AI to make its own service easier to use and more attractive. Both are plausible outcomes, rather than proof that AI will remove Uber or any other platform.
Businesses can prepare by asking three questions:
- Where does the customer first express what they need?
- Who supplies and coordinates the actual service?
- Who handles payment, support and accountability when something goes wrong?
Uber’s example suggests that the connecting work often survives technological change. The commercial opportunity lies in performing that work well, even as the place where customers begin their journey changes.