Three passengers have recounted the moment their Uber driver was carjacked on the outskirts of Brisbane's CBD on Sunday night.

Thomas Lespes, Mitchell Reuss and Nikita Bell had briefly gotten out of the car they booked through the app Uber to enter a bottle shop on Leichhardt Street in Spring Hill, when they saw a man climb into the Toyota Aurion.

The trio did not realise the man had a gun, which police say was pointed at the 40-year-old driver who removed himself from the vehicle.

The carjacker then sped off in the car, with police trying to intercept it at Herston Road before the driver side-swiped two vehicles at the intersection of Newmarket and Lutwyche roads.

Police gave chase for a short period but terminated the pursuit for safety reasons.

Ms Bell said she had a bad feeling when she saw the Uber driver get out of his car.

The stolen Toyota Aurion looks like this, with this number plate. ( Supplied: QPS )

"I thought this is going to be bad because the gunman actually said to us: 'Don't get in, move along'," Ms Bell said.

"Then he literally just sped off down the street."

Ms Bell said the Uber driver, named Sandeep, was distressed by the incident but had avoided physical harm.

"The driver just went silent. He wasn't talking except to the police. He looked quite shaken up," she said.



Mr Lespes described the encounter as "just unreal".

"You would never think this kind of thing can happen to you. It happened in like, 10 seconds," he said.

Passengers tracked carjacker with app



The passengers were able to track the carjacker using the Uber app for five minutes, but lost the signal because he may have thrown the Uber driver's phone out the window.

Uber spokesperson Mike Scott said the company had reached out to the driver to check on his wellbeing and offer support.

Police have described the offender as a Caucasian male in his 40s with short brown hair, a stubble beard and wearing a black jacket.

The stolen car with the registration 163VWP remains missing.