The world’s largest ride-hailing service is looking to expand its fleet of taxis and limousines by about 3,000 vehicles per month in an effort to reduce congestion.
Uber, which was founded by the late Steve Jobs, said Tuesday it is planning to add about 500 taxis and about 300 limousine vehicles to its fleet.
Uber is hoping to make its fleet more efficient and more affordable by buying and renting out its own cars.
The company says it will invest $1 billion in new fleet infrastructure over the next two years.
Uber currently operates about 15,000 taxis in New York City alone.
“In addition to delivering a much better ride experience, we are also investing to provide greater mobility for our drivers,” the company said in a statement.
“This will include the purchase of vehicles and leasing of their vehicles through our leasing program, and also include a network of private rental cars, which will also be available for private clients.”
Uber said the new fleet will be “largely self-driving vehicles.”
The company is hoping that the investment will result in better-performing drivers and fewer accidents.
The cars will also have new safety features such as cameras and sensors.
Uber has already spent millions of dollars in recent years on autonomous technology to help reduce accidents, though it is not clear how many of those cars are actually being used.
Uber says it is spending about $2 billion to hire more drivers, though its fleet size is still relatively small compared to other ride-sharing services.
It’s also unclear how much Uber will actually pay for each vehicle.
Uber’s investment will also allow the company to increase the number of taxis it has in its fleet by at least another 10 percent each month.