Uber and Waymo have announced an expansion of their existing partnership. This collaboration will bring Waymo’s autonomous ride-hailing service, Waymo Driver, to a wider audience through the Uber app.
Starting in early 2025, in Austin, Texas, and Atlanta, Georgia, residents will be able to have autonomous rides through the Uber app. The service will initially use Waymo’s fully autonomous, all-electric Jaguar I-PACE vehicles. However, there are plans to expand the fleet by hundreds over time. For eligible trips, riders requesting UberX, Uber Green, Uber Comfort, or Uber Comfort Electric may be matched with a Waymo vehicle. The announcement has already boosted Uber’s stock by 6% in premarket trading.
This expanded partnership will build on the successful partnership between Uber and Waymo in Phoenix, Arizona. It’s gone so well that tens of thousands of riders have already had fully autonomous trips. Both companies were happy in their press releases and were sure that the expansion to new cities would only continue the success. Dara Khosrowshahi, CEO of Uber, spoke on the positive rider feedback from the Phoenix service and expressed excitement about bringing the same “mobility magic” to Austin and Atlanta through a dedicated fleet of Waymo vehicles.
Tekedra Mawakana, co-CEO of Waymo, said that Waymo’s mission is to be the world’s most trusted driver. The Waymo Driver already powers Waymo One, a fully autonomous ride-hailing service that provides over 100,000 trips per week across San Francisco, Phoenix, and Los Angeles. The company is very eager to prove this and believes that working with Uber to allow passengers to use its vehicles is one way to do that. The Waymo One service has done well in other cities without Uber, but the partnership will speed up the expansion of Waymo One into Austin and Atlanta.
The partnership separates responsibilities to each company based on their specialties. Uber will handle fleet management services like cleaning, repairs, and depot operations. Waymo will remain in charge of testing and operating the Waymo Driver. They will also be responsible for roadside assistance and certain rider support functions. If the expansion does well in Atlanta and Austin, we will likely see the partnership continue into other states.
