Uber and Waymo to supply driverless ride-hailing journeys in Austin and Atlanta

Uber introduced Friday it’s increasing its partnership with Alphabet’s Waymo to supply robotaxi rides in Austin, Texas, and Atlanta starting in early 2025. Shares of Uber jumped 5% on the information whereas Alphabet rose about 1%.

Uber riders in these cities could be matched with a driverless Waymo automobile for some journeys, in accordance with the businesses. The rides will solely be out there by way of Uber’s app, not like in San Francisco and Los Angeles the place riders e-book by way of the Waymo app. A Waymo spokesperson stated it had no plans to accomplice with Uber in San Francisco and Los Angeles.

The enlargement comes as Uber faces investor stress to step up its autonomous automobile technique, particularly forward of Tesla’s planned robotaxi occasion slated for Oct. 10. Shares of Uber have fallen 9% because the Tesla occasion was introduced and are off 17% from their 52-week highs. 

It might additionally gradual Waymo encroachment into Uber’s market share. An evaluation from Bernstein estimated that, as of Might 2024, Waymo’s 50,000 weekly paid rides made up roughly 2% of ride-sharing utilization in San Francisco. Since then, Waymo has doubled its paid robotaxi journeys to 100,000 every week, the corporate introduced. 

“We’re thrilled to construct on our profitable partnership with Waymo, which has already powered totally autonomous journeys for tens of hundreds of riders in Phoenix,” Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi stated in a launch. 

Uber’s preliminary settlement with Waymo in Phoenix additionally included autonomous Uber Eats deliveries within the metropolis. The enlargement into Austin and Atlanta gained’t embrace Uber Eats at first, in accordance with the Waymo spokesperson, however they’re exploring that chance for the longer term. 

Waymo co-CEO Tekedra Mawakana stated, “We’ve been delighted on the constructive suggestions from our Waymo One riders up to now, and we will’t wait to deliver the consolation, comfort, and security of the Waymo Driver to those cities in partnership with Uber.” 

The enlargement into two extra cities is one other step in Uber’s development into the robotaxi area, after struggling to get a foothold and promoting off its personal self-driving division in 2020, now counting on partnerships with corporations together with Waymo, GM’s Cruise and the SoftBank-backed U.Okay. startup Wayve to realize floor. 

Uber shares dipped in August after the company announced a multiyear partnership with Cruise to supply autonomous rides by way of its app subsequent yr. Wells Fargo analyst Ken Gawrelski cited Cruise’s previous safety challenges as part of the investor skepticism, together with now-fulfilled hopes for a partnership with Waymo as an alternative. 

Waymo has quickly made strides within the self-driving race. It at present affords robotaxi companies to the general public in San Francisco, Los Angeles and Phoenix. It has logged greater than 22 million miles by way of June of this yr, and final week, it launched a report that argued its automobiles are safer than human drivers. It started testing driverless vehicles on Bay Space freeways with Google workers in August.

Some analysts had been extra looking forward to a possible Uber and Waymo enlargement into San Francisco. However Atlanta and Austin, the place Waymo has already begun testing, should assist sentiment.