Uber and Waymo partnership increasing to 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 might be matched with a driverless Waymo automotive for some journeys, in accordance with the businesses. The rides will solely be obtainable via Uber’s app, not like in San Francisco and Los Angeles the place riders guide via the Waymo app. A Waymo spokesperson mentioned it had no plans to accomplice with Uber in San Francisco and Los Angeles.

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

It might additionally sluggish 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 per week, the corporate introduced. 

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

Uber’s preliminary settlement with Waymo in Phoenix additionally included autonomous Uber Eats deliveries within the metropolis. The growth into Austin and Atlanta will not embody 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 mentioned, “We have been delighted on the constructive suggestions from our Waymo One riders up to now, and we will not wait to deliver the consolation, comfort, and security of the Waymo Driver to those cities in partnership with Uber.” 

The growth into two extra cities is one other step in Uber’s development into the robotaxi house, 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 achieve floor. 

Uber shares dipped in August after the company announced a multiyear partnership with Cruise to supply autonomous rides via 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 presently presents robotaxi companies to the general public in San Francisco, Los Angeles and Phoenix. It has logged greater than 22 million miles via June of this yr, and final week, it launched a report that argued its autos are safer than human drivers. It started testing driverless vehicles on Bay Space freeways with Google staff in August.

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

— CNBC’s Laura Batchelor and Lora Kolodny contributed to this text.