Grab Sees Promise in Autonomous Vehicles and Eventual Profits From Banks

Indonesian super app Grab sees autonomous vehicles (AVs) as one of its next growth drivers.

“We’ve been watching this space closely and are very excited about the long-term opportunity related to this tech,” Anthony Tan, the company’s co-founder and CEO, said during a Thursday (Feb. 20) earnings call.

“I personally, and, our leadership has actually taken many rides across the world, across various brands just to understand and be forward-leaning in this space. We believe we are in a prime position in supporting the AV transition over the next few years, and we have a very significant role to play in this region via a hybrid AV human fleet.”

Grab, whose businesses include eCommerce and financial services as well as ride-hailing, is positioned to do well in this space, the CEO said, as it has strong relationships with original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) the “highest utilization” rate in the region, and a track record of working with regulators and governments.

“So as we think about this AV transition, we’re also proactively thinking about how can we play a part on upskilling our driver partners as part of this shift because that is core to our mission and an important aspect of our strategy,” Tan said, noting the company was in “active discussions” with regulators.

“We do anticipate a longer road to mainstream AV adoption in other parts of Southeast Asia,” as every regulator is different, “but we are very excited about this space,” Tan told analysts.

This effort comes as other companies in the ride-hailing space — most notably Uber and Lyft — are also working on their own AV efforts.

Grab’s fourth-quarter and full-year earnings showed revenue growing 17% year over year for the quarter, and 19% for 2024.

As for other areas of the business, Tan said the company sees “plenty of headroom to drive organic growth in Southeast Asia,” with the addressable market for mobility and grocery deliveries “still significantly unattached,” as Grab serves just 1 out of every 20 people in Southeast Asia.

The company has also been pushing into the financial services space, an arm of the business that includes three digital banks and GrabFin, its FinTech platform.

Management said during the call that it expects financial services to reach profitability by the second half of next year, and its banks to be profitable by the fourth quarter of next year.