Driverless car company Waymo announced a partnership with the ride-hailing company Sept. 13, by which Waymo will offer its driverless robotaxi services via the Uber ride-hailing app beginning early 2025.
The big picture
Uber will oversee and deploy a fleet of Waymo’s fully autonomous, all-electric Jaguar I-PACE vehicles, which will gradually expand to include hundreds of cars, according to a news release.
“Waymo’s mission is to be the world’s most trusted driver, and we’re excited to launch this expanded network and operations partnership with Uber in Austin and Atlanta to bring the benefits of fully autonomous driving to more riders,” Waymo co-CEO Tekedra Mawakana said in the release. “We’ve been delighted at the positive feedback from our Waymo One riders to date.”
The company has already begun offering fully autonomous rides to its employees in Austin and in the coming weeks will welcome a limited number of early riders through the use of the Waymo One app.
Dubbed a product of “mobility magic” by Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi, Waymo will be fully integrated with the ride-hailing company at the beginning of next year and gradually expand throughout the year.
The two companies are expected to “methodically scale” the services with a focus on safety, reliability and convenience, according to the news release.
Looking back
The most recent announcement did not provide an update as to where the new robotaxi services will be offered.
However, the technology company's announcement March 5 shared that its self-driving cars would roam within a 43-square-mile radius that included downtown, Barton Hills, Riverside, East Austin and Hyde Park.
Austin is the fourth city selected by Waymo, which already offers fully autonomous ride-hailing services in San Francisco, Los Angeles and Phoenix.
Waymo is not the only driverless car company to choose Austin though, as Zoox, a subsidiary of Amazon, and General Motors’ Cruise also began testing within the city in recent years. Cruise paused all operations in October, however, following a decision by the California Department of Motor Vehicles to suspend Cruise’s deployment and driverless testing permits.
More information on the city’s policies and regulation of driverless vehicles can be found here.
