Uber is planning to recruit 140 more engineers for its tech teams in Bengaluru and Hyderabad. The cab-aggregator is aiming to build in areas such as safety, digital payments, finance technology, delivery, marketplace, customer service as well as rider and driver growth.

Jayaram Valliyur who is leading the company's global finance technology team as Senior Director said they are looking for engineers who are passionate about solving complex problems. "We're leveraging India's product and engineering talent to fuel our next wave of products and services. We're looking to hire engineers who are technical and passionate about solving complex problems in the mobility and delivery space," he said.

The company has been working to build mask recognition capability that aims to ensure that driver partners wear masks for their own safety as well as the safety of the passengers. Advanced Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence techniques are being looked into by Uber to seamlessly onboard restaurant menus onto Uber marketplace.

As the cab-aggregator gears up to hire more engineers and invest in technology, it also shut down its Mumbai office to cut costs. Mumbai office is part of around 45 offices globally that are reportedly being shut by the company. This development came after Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi had said the company would refocus on its core business and close 45 offices globally. Almost all departments would be affected by layoffs, he said.

Amid the peak of the coronavirus pandemic in May, the cab-aggregator had laid off 600 employees in India. "Today is an incredibly sad day for colleagues leaving the Uber family and all of us at the company. We made the decision now so that we can look to the future with confidence. I want to apologise to departing colleagues and extend my heartfelt thanks to them for their contributions to Uber, the riders, and the driver-partners we serve in India," said Uber India head Pradeep Parameswaran.