Happy Tuesday! Maybe where you're standing now was once a goal of yours.

🌤️ Today's weather: Mostly sunny, high in the low 80s.

🎵 Sounds like: "Cars"

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🏈 Situational awareness: The Cowboys beat the Philadelphia Eagles 38-21 last night.

• Dak Prescott threw three touchdown passes and Javonte Williams ran for a career-high 155 yards.

Today's newsletter is 884 sneezy words — a 3.5-minute read.

Uber is betting billions on a driverless future, but the secret to making the economics work could be its vast army of human drivers.

Why it matters: Uber believes a hybrid network of robots and people — of the sort now operating in Dallas — can keep the expensive autonomous vehicles busier, and therefore more profitable, than fleets made up entirely of robotaxis.

The big picture: Ride-hailing is a supply driven business, and robotaxis aren't a substitute for drivers, Uber says — they're an additional form of supply.

Between the lines: Think of a high-tech robotaxi like an airplane: It costs money whether it's carrying passengers or sitting on the ground.

• To maximize usage, Uber says it expects to size its robotaxi fleet for normal demand and summon more human drivers when needed.
• The goal is to keep the autonomous taxis moving as much as possible, so Uber and its partners can squeeze as much profit as possible from that expensive asset.

Follow the money: Robotaxi economics remain unproven, Uber's head of autonomous mobility and delivery, Sarfraz Maredia, tells Axios, with no company yet making money operating them.

• So far, Uber says, robotaxis are taking shorter city-center trips, while drivers get longer, more lucrative ones.

Zoom in: Uber has run a hybrid network in Dallas since December, when it began matching some riders with Avride robotaxis, which still carry a safety operator behind the wheel.

• Waymo and Tesla run fully driverless fleets here through their own apps.

What we're watching: Whether Dallas drivers feel the squeeze as robotaxi fleets here grow.

• In San Francisco, Los Angeles and Austin, where robotaxis have operated longer, drivers' hourly base pay fell or grew more slowly than elsewhere in the country, per research from Gridwise, an app that lets gig drivers track earnings, expenses and mileage.
• Uber says driver earnings have stayed consistent in Austin and Atlanta, where Waymo robotaxis run on its app.

The bottom line: Humans may make Uber's robotaxi math work. Whether the math works as well for the humans is less certain.

The flu is getting an earlier start in Texas and nationwide this year.

Why it matters: Health experts say it's time to get your flu shot if you haven't already.

Zoom in: State hospital laboratories reported more than 800 flu cases from Oct. 4-10, up from about 15 during roughly the same period in 2025, per the Texas Health and Human Services department.

Flashback: The U.S. saw its worst flu season in 25 years last season.

Between the lines: Doctors nationwide urge everyone 6 months and older to get their flu shots now. Search for flu vaccine locations at Vaccines.gov.

• It takes up to two weeks for the vaccine to provide maximum protection.
• This season, the new U.S.-approved mRNA flu vaccine is available to adults 50 and older.
• Children make up the highest percentage of medical visits in the U.S. for flu-like illness.

What they're saying: Children's Health in Dallas says flu symptoms include high fever, body aches and cough.

Other reminders: Wash your hands often and avoid touching your face.

• Stay home when you're sick to avoid spreading germs.

The bottom line: Trish Perl, an infectious diseases and epidemiology professor at UT Southwestern, tells Axios the early uptick in flu positivity is worth watching, but it's too soon to gauge how severe this "reliably unreliable" flu season will be.

❄️ El Niño could bring a higher chance of snow to North Texas this winter. (KERA)

⛪️ Highland Park United Methodist Church members voted yesterday to leave the United Methodist Church amid a legal dispute with the denomination's regional governing body. (DMN)

🤠 Dickies Arena in Fort Worth is now known as Ariat Arena after Ariat International secured the naming rights for the next decade. (WFAA)

Hey y'all, I'm Megan! I'm thrilled to be joining Naheed in covering Dallas for Axios Dallas.

Catch up quick: I'm a North Texas native who was born in Dallas and grew up in Tarrant County.

✏️ I graduated from the University of Texas at Arlington and have reported on North Texas and Dallas for the last several years.

👩🏻‍💻 I've previously worked at The Shorthorn, Community Impact, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, and, most recently, KERA.

🍿 In my free time, you can find me hanging with pals, at the movies, or catching up on my reading — I'm currently rereading "Wuthering Heights."

The bottom line: I'm passionate about Texas and what makes our communities unique, and I can't wait to get started!

This newsletter was edited by Bob Gee.

Our picks:

🤗 Naheed is thrilled to have Megan as her co-writer after meeting her in person and reading her past work. Let's do this!

🕶️ Megan is stoked to join the Axios Dallas team!

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