Uber, the ride-hailing leader, said Friday that it will deploy robotaxis built by Waymo, a pioneer in self-driving technology, starting next year, a deal that deepens ties between the two companies that were once fierce rivals.
The alliance builds on a partnership the two companies struck last year in Phoenix, signaling a willingness to put aside their differences and work together after a heated legal battle over allegations that Uber stole Waymo’s trade secrets.
Uber’s growing reliance on Waymo’s robotaxis to supplement its fleet of cars driven by humans who respond to requests sent through a mobile app comes just weeks after the company took the first step toward deploying Waymo’s robotaxis. announced plans to deploy self-driving cars from General Motors’ troubled subsidiary Cruise.
It has not yet been announced where Uber and Cruise will collaborate next year, but it likely won’t be in California, where Cruise’s license remains suspended after a horrific incident in October 2023 in San Francisco that seriously injured a pedestrian.
Unlike Cruise, Waymo has not been involved in any major crashes or accidents that have put its robotaxis, which now provide more than 100,000 rides per week, out of service. San Francisco, Los Angeles and Phoenix, with its own taxi app.
But Waymo’s robotaxis in Austin and Atlanta next year will respond to requests through Uber’s app, rather than Waymo’s own.
The adoption of Uber’s app, which is already well-established in these cities, signals that Waymo is looking for ways to introduce its self-driving technology to new markets more quickly, hoping to make money for its parent company, Alphabet Inc., which also owns Google.
While Alphabet doesn’t release Waymo’s financial results, the robotaxi service is believed to be responsible for the bulk of the $2.15 billion in operating losses its Other Bets division suffered in the first half of this year.
The cozy relationship between Uber and Waymo is a dramatic turnaround from the legal battles that culminated in the two parties have agreed on a settlement of $245 million during a high-profile lawsuit in 2018. The truce settled a lawsuit alleging that former Uber CEO Travis Kalanick conspired with former Google engineer Anthony Levandowski to steal Waymo’s self-driving car technology.
Levandowski later pleaded guilty to the criminal charges stemming from the civil lawsuit, but avoided an 18-month prison sentence in January 2021 when he pardoned by President Donald Trump just before he left office.
Uber subsequently sold its self-driving car division, prompting allegations of theft under current CEO Dara Khosrowshahi after one of the company’s robotic vehicles killed a pedestrian in Tempe, Arizona, in March 2018.
