Last month, Uber announced a partnership with Cruise in which Uber customers would soon be able to book a ride in one of Cruise’s autonomous vehicles. At the time, we noted that this wasn’t Uber’s only robotaxi-related partnership; they’d also worked with Waymo in Phoenix, Arizona. This week brings with it news that the latter partnership is expanding — and, beginning next year, Uber will allow app users to travel via Waymo’s self-driving cars in Atlanta and Austin.
Writing at Autoweek, Jay Ramey has more details on how the partnership will shake out in those cities — speciifcally, that Waymo will manage the software side of things while Uber will be responsible for maintenance an upkeep of the vehicles. As for what vehicle you’ll be boarding if you hail an autonomous Uber in either of these cities, there’s a simple answer: it’ll be one from Waymo’s fleet of autonomous Jaguar I-PACEs.
“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,” said Waymo co-CEO Tekedra Mawakana in a statement.
Robotaxi Company Cruise Announces Partnership With Uber
It’s set to go into effect in 2025As per Waymo’s own announcement, how they’ll work with Uber will be slightly different in each of the two cities, at least at first. In Atlanta, Uber customers will be able to book a Waymo ride beginning early next year. In the case of Austin, where Waymo currently offers robotaxi service via its Waymo One app, “a limited number of early riders” will be able to use this to book their trips before service moves to Uber’s app in 2025.
It’s another sign of the rise in prominence of self-driving vehicles — and their steady growth across the nation’s cities.
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