Gen Z is turning away from getting driver’s licenses because they can just grab rideshares instead, according to Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi—and his own son is no exception.
While getting a license for Khosrowshahi was “a goal in life” representing freedom, his son has passed on this benchmark of teenagedom, he told The Verge’s Decoder podcast last May. The Uber CEO’s son is among a wave of teens embracing the convenience of rideshare over owning a car, Khosrowshahi noted.
“This drives me crazy,” Khosrowshahi said. “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.”
According to Khosrowshahi, the convenience of rideshare for the younger generation is “absolutely having an effect on car ownership.”
Indeed, from 1983 to 2022, the number of 18-year-olds with driver’s licenses in the U.S. decreased from 80% to 60%, according to data from the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Highway Administration. Since 2000, that share among 16-year-olds has dropped by more than a quarter.
