Dive Brief:
- Uber Technologies and Waymo are expanding their partnership with plans to deploy self-driving vehicles on the Uber platform in two new cities, the companies announced in a press release Sept. 13.
- Beginning in 2025, Waymo’s electric Jaguar I-Pace SUVs will be made available on Uber’s platform in Austin, Texas and Atlanta. The number of Waymo vehicles on the platform will grow into the hundreds over time.
- Uber first announced its multi-year strategic partnership with Waymo in May 2023, which included plans to add Waymo’s driverless vehicles to its ride-hailing platform starting in Phoenix before expanding to other U.S. cities.
Dive Insight:
Uber has been preparing to tap into appetite for autonomous ridesharing by forging partnerships with several industry leaders.
The deployment of self-driving Waymo vehicles in Atlanta and Austin follows Uber's recent announcement to add vehicles from GM’s Cruise unit to its platform next year, as well as a second collaboration and strategic investment in London-based Wayve to deploy autonomous vehicles in global markets.
“Fully autonomous driving is quickly becoming part of everyday life, and we’re excited to bring Waymo's incredible technology to the Uber platform,” Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi said in the release.
Uber previously planned to develop autonomous driving technology in-house under its former Advanced Technologies Group. However, it sold the unit to autonomous trucking startup Aurora in December 2020.
For Waymo, the expanded partnership helps grow its reach, allowing more people to experience a ride in one of its self-driving vehicles.
“We’re excited to offer another way for people to experience the enjoyable and life-saving benefits of full autonomy,” said Tekedra Mawakana, co-CEO of Waymo, in the release. “Uber has long been a leader in human-operated ridesharing, and the pairing of our pioneering technology and all-electric fleet with their customer network provides Waymo with an opportunity to reach even more people.”
Although Waymo's collaboration with Uber is expanding to two new cities, the company is simultaneously operating its own autonomous ride-hailing service called Waymo One. The service now provides more than 100,000 trips each week across San Francisco, Phoenix, and Los Angeles. Its Phoenix robotaxi operations are currently the largest fully autonomous service area in the world, with a 180 square miles of coverage, according to the company.
Last month, Waymo shared details of its sixth-generation Waymo Driver autonomous driving technology stack for its vehicles. It includes 13 cameras, four lidars, six radar units and an array of external audio receivers. It uses a combination of high-resolution maps, cameras, lidar and radar to monitor the environment and safely navigate.
