A Jaguar Waymo self-driving electric vehicle is parked at an EVgo charging station in Los Angeles, California on May 15, 2024.
Patrick T. Fallon | AFP | Getty Images
Uber announced on Friday that it is expanding its partnership with The alphabet Waymo will offer ride-hailing robots in Austin, Texas and Atlanta starting in early 2025. Shares of Uber jumped 5% on the news while Alphabet rose about 1%.
Uber riders in those cities can be paired with a driverless Waymo car for certain trips, according to the companies. Rides will only be available through the Uber app, unlike in San Francisco and Los Angeles where riders book through the Waymo app. A Waymo spokesperson said it does not plan to work with Uber in San Francisco and Los Angeles.
The expansion comes as Uber faces pressure from investors to ramp up its autonomous vehicle strategy, especially before TeslaThe scheduled robotaxi event is scheduled for October 10. Uber shares have fallen 9% since the Tesla event was announced and are down 17% from their 52-week high.
It may also slow Waymo’s encroachment on Uber’s market share. An analysis by Bernstein estimated that, as of May 2024, Waymo’s 50,000 weekly paid rides accounted for about 2% of rideshare usage in San Francisco. Since then, Waymo has doubled its paid robotaxi trips to 100,000 per week, the company said.
“We’re excited to build on our successful partnership with Waymo, which has already powered fully autonomous travel for tens of thousands of riders in Phoenix,” Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi said in a statement.
Uber’s original deal with Waymo in Phoenix also included autonomous Uber Eats deliveries in the city. The expansion to Austin and Atlanta will not initially include Uber Eats, according to a Waymo spokesperson, but they are exploring that possibility for the future.
Waymo Co-CEO Tekedra Mawakana said, “We are thrilled with the positive feedback from Waymo One riders to date and look forward to bringing the convenience, comfort and safety of Waymo Driver to these partner cities. with Uber.”
The expansion to two more cities is another step in Uber’s progress in the robotaxi space, after it struggled to gain a foothold and sold its own self-driving division in 2020, now relying on partnerships with companies like Waymo. GM‘s Cruise and the SoftBank– backed UK startup Wayve to gain ground.
Uber shares fell in August after the company announced a multi-year partnership with Cruise to offer autonomous rides through its app next year. Wells Fargo analyst Ken Gawrelski cited Cruise’s past safety challenges as part of investor skepticism, along with now-fulfilled hopes for a partnership with Waymo.
Waymo has made rapid strides in the self-driving race. It currently offers robotaxi services to the public in San Francisco, Los Angeles and Phoenix. It has driven more than 22 million miles by June this year, and last week it released a report that claimed its vehicles are safer than human drivers. It began testing driverless cars on Bay Area freeways with Google employees in August.
Some analysts were more optimistic about a potential expansion of Uber and Waymo into San Francisco. But Atlanta and Austin, where Waymo has already begun testing, may still help sentiment.
— CNBC’s Laura Batchelor and Lora Kolodny contributed to this article.
