Uber’s Driverless Waymo Robotaxis Are Headed To A New City
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Summary
- Uber partnered with Waymo to offer autonomous taxi rides via app in Phoenix, Austin, and Atlanta.
- Riders in Atlanta can now register their interest in trying out Waymo via the Uber app.
- Waymo will be widely available in Atlanta starting Summer, with pricing on par with Uber.
Uber has been working hard to become a relevant player in the autonomous taxi service sector through numerous partnerships. The most notable one is Waymo — Google’s self-driving car project. As the service becomes more mature, it is now expanding to one more American city.
Self-driving vehicles are often regarded as the next big thing in mobility, and taxi services are likely to be the biggest beneficiary of the technology: skipping a human driver would make them significantly more profitable. Waymo and Tesla are at the forefront of mass autonomy, but both have very different approaches. While Tesla’s Robotaxi service is expected to start in June in Austin, Waymo has been offering public rides for a few years now.
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Expanding autonomous ride-hailing ecosystem
In 2023, Uber announced that the Waymo Driver (name of its self-driving Jaguar I-Pace vehicle) will be available for trying on its app in Phoenix. In late 2024, the partnership deepened, and it was confirmed that select regions of Austin and Atlanta will soon have access to Waymo exclusively via Uber. Miami will be next.
Uber riders in Atlanta can now register their interest in riding in Waymo robotaxis, with a wider rollout set for the Summer (via CNET). The company states that its employees have already been using the service, likely to iron out the kinks. To join the waitlist, update your Uber app and then go to Account -> Settings -> Ride preferences -> Autonomous vehicles -> click on Join interest list.
Unlike San Francisco and Los Angeles, where Waymo operates, users in Austin and Atlanta do not need to download the Waymo One app to use the service. By being directly available via Uber, more riders will be exposed to autonomous taxis — lowering the friction in adoption. Those on the list may get early access to riding a Waymo in Atlanta, and will be notified in-app and via email. Pricing will be on par with a regular Uber for now.
While Waymo could open up a lot of possibilities for Uber, it’s far from the only option. In fact, Uber’s CEO Dara Khosrowshahi publicly mentioned that he’d love to have Tesla’s upcoming Robotaxis on Uber, saying, “no one wants to compete against Tesla or Elon”. As things stand right now, Tesla will operate independently (at least initially), practically competing with Waymo.
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