"Do You Still Like Uber?"

This is one of the most common questions I receive from readers.

And late last week, something happened that perfectly explains why Uber Technologies (UBER) remains a core holding in my Million Mission portfolio.

Amazon's autonomous vehicle division, Zoox, announced a partnership with Uber.

The deal will bring Zoox robotaxis onto Uber's platform while allowing Zoox to continue operating its own service.

Most investors probably looked at that headline and moved on.

I saw something much bigger.

Because this announcement reinforces a point I've been making for years.

“Congratulations… You Built The Robotaxi”

Let's say you're Amazon.

Or Waymo.

Or one of the dozens of companies racing to build autonomous vehicles.

You've spent years developing self-driving technology.

You've hired thousands of engineers.

Burned through billions of dollars.

Collected millions of miles of driving data.

Navigated regulators, lawyers, safety reviews, and endless testing.

After a decade of work, your robotaxi is finally ready.

Congratulations.

Now comes the hard part.

Finding riders.

At this point, you have two options:

• Option #1: Build your own ride-hailing app, spend billions marketing it, acquire customers city-by-city, and compete directly against Uber.

• Option #2: Plug into Uber's existing network of roughly 200 million monthly active users and start generating revenue immediately.

Sure, with Option #2 Uber takes a cut.

But if you just spent billions of dollars building a robotaxi, do you really want to spend billions more trying to build the next Uber?

I wouldn't.

And apparently Zoox agrees.

The 15 Minute Problem

The best way to explain why Option #2 trumps Option #1 is known as “the 15 minute problem.”

Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi has talked about this publicly a few times.

Imagine one of your robotaxis drops off a passenger downtown.

The next rider requesting a trip is 15 minutes away.

And that passenger only needs a five-minute ride.

Remember, your self-driving vehicle is only generating revenue when it’s transporting passengers.

So your vehicle is about to spend:

• 15 minutes generating no revenue

• 5 minutes generating revenue

This happens because most self-driving platforms lack the demand density needed to efficiently match riders with nearby vehicles.

As a result, cars spend too much time driving empty and not enough time generating revenue.

This makes for a terrible business.

Because while all this is happening:

• The car still depreciates.

• The battery still degrades.

• Insurance still costs money.

• Maintenance still costs money.

But only five of those twenty minutes actually produced income.

Now multiply that problem across thousands of vehicles.

Suddenly, finding passengers becomes just as important as building the robotaxi itself.

This is what most investors miss.

The autonomous vehicle race isn't just about who builds the best car.

It's about who keeps those cars occupied.

This is where Uber comes in.

Uber already has millions of riders opening the app every day.

→ That means more ride requests.

→ More ride requests mean less downtime.

→ Less downtime means higher utilization.

→ Higher utilization means better economics.

In other words, Uber helps solve the single biggest problem facing every robotaxi company:

Keeping expensive assets busy.

That's why Zoox partnered with Uber.

It's why Waymo partnered with Uber.

And it's why I believe many more autonomous vehicle companies will eventually do the same.

Because after spending billions to build the robotaxi, the last thing you want is for it to sit around waiting for passengers.

For this reason… Uber remains a core holding in my Million Mission portfolio.