A Waymo autonomous self-driving Jaguar electrical car sits parked at an EVgo charging station in Los Angeles, California, on Might 15, 2024.
Patrick T. Fallon | AFP | Getty Photographs
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 may be matched with a driverless Waymo automotive for some journeys, in response to the businesses. The rides will solely be obtainable by means of Uber’s app, not like in San Francisco and Los Angeles the place riders e-book by means of the Waymo app. A Waymo spokesperson stated it had no plans to associate 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 deliberate 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 per week, the corporate introduced.
“We’re thrilled to build on our successful partnership with Waymo, which has already powered fully autonomous trips for tens of thousands 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 growth into Austin and Atlanta will not embody Uber Eats at first, in response to the Waymo spokesperson, however they’re exploring that chance for the longer term.
Waymo co-CEO Tekedra Mawakana stated, “We’ve been delighted at the positive feedback from our Waymo One riders to date, and we can’t wait to bring the comfort, convenience, and safety of the Waymo Driver to these cities in partnership with Uber.”
The growth 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 firms together with Waymo, GM‘s Cruise and the SoftBank-backed U.Ok. startup Wayve to realize floor.
Uber shares dipped in August after the corporate introduced a multiyear partnership with Cruise to supply autonomous rides by means of its app subsequent yr. Wells Fargo analyst Ken Gawrelski cited Cruise’s earlier security challenges as part of the investor skepticism, together with now-fulfilled hopes for a partnership with Waymo as a substitute.
Waymo has quickly made strides within the self-driving race. It at present presents robotaxi companies to the general public in San Francisco, Los Angeles and Phoenix. It has logged greater than 22 million miles by means of 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 eager for 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.
