Squishmallows, dentures, and an ‘I Heart Hot Dads’ bag: Uber has found thousands of items left in robotaxis

For the past 10 years, Uber’s yearly Lost & Found Index has provided a alternatively quirky anthropological snapshot of its riders — and adjacent a fewer insights into society. The yearly catalogue of millions of forgotten items ranges from mundane modern-day tools specified arsenic smartphones and laptops, to much eyebrow-raising objects similar unrecorded fish, an ankle monitor, a toboggan, a bundle of unrecorded butterflies, and a azygous Louboutin shoe.

This year, Uber is utilizing the study to item the aforesaid aged occupation of mislaid items with a caller twist: robotaxis. Thousands of items (it’s a spot excessively caller for millions) were near down successful robotaxis connected Uber’s ride-hailing web successful the past year, the institution said Tuesday. There were the accustomed suspects of phones, keys, wallets, passports, and headphones, on with a fewer items that strayed into the who-is-this-rider category: a acceptable of dentures, an “I Heart Hot Dads” bag, and a bluish chapeau that reads “Emotional Support Human.”

Beyond this entertaining database lies a concern opportunity, if a insignificant one. Even successful a aboriginal of robot taxis, idiosyncratic inactive has to instrumentality the things passengers permission behind.

Uber has spent the past respective years locking up dozens of partnerships with autonomous conveyance (AV) exertion companies. But it truly wasn’t until March 2025, erstwhile the “Waymo connected Uber” robotaxi work launched successful Austin, that the commercialized wheels connected its AV concern started turning. Since then, Uber and Waymo person besides started a robotaxi work successful Atlanta. Uber has added different AV companies to its app successful the past year, including Motional successful Las Vegas and Avride successful Dallas, though these inactive person quality information operators down the wheel.

That Uber has already logged thousands of mislaid items successful conscionable 12 months gives immoderate consciousness of conscionable however galore robotaxi rides person been completed connected its app. The underlying connection present is that Uber’s existing web is already acceptable up to reunite riders with their mislaid items, including a 15-pound yo-yo, 1 ample achromatic marble duck, a Squishmallow, and a Charli XCX poster.

When an Uber rider forgets belongings successful a robotaxi, the process for recovering them is akin to immoderate different Uber ride: unfastened the app, click the enactment tab, prime the travel during which the point was lost, and interaction lawsuit support. Riders are past capable to message, chat, oregon telephone a enactment agent. If the point is located, they person 2 options: wage $15 for an Uber Courier operator to supply same-day section delivery, oregon prime up the belonging successful idiosyncratic from an AV depot, wherever the vehicles are stored and serviced.

Uber Courier is simply a rebrand of Uber Connect, which launched successful 2020 and allowed users to nonstop packages and idiosyncratic items betwixt section addresses. But Uber says determination is much to its robotaxi enactment web than repurposing existing services.

“With tens of millions of mislaid items reported connected Uber each year, we’ve spent the past decennary gathering systems that assistance riders rapidly and seamlessly reunite with their belongings,” Amy Satrom, planetary caput of autonomous enactment astatine Uber, said successful a statement. “As autonomous rides proceed to standard connected Uber, we’re bringing that aforesaid expertise to AVs — combining our fleet operations, enactment teams, and hybrid web to marque getting a mislaid point backmost simple, adjacent erstwhile there’s nary operator down the wheel.”

In February, the institution announced Uber Autonomous Solutions, a caller concern part that conveys its bigger ambitions astir driverless tech. The part provides companies with a suite of services that grip each the tasks associated with operating a robotaxi, self-driving truck, oregon sidewalk transportation robot business, including bundle and enactment services.

And Uber intelligibly means to marque AVs a large gross driver. The institution plans to connection robotaxi rides done its app successful arsenic galore arsenic 15 cities globally by the extremity of the twelvemonth and has said it intends to beryllium the largest facilitator of AV trips successful the satellite by 2029.