Waymo and Uber are seeing other people
The two companies are finding different partners for autonomous vehicle rollouts, deteriorating their relationship, per an analyst.
Robin Marchant/Getty Images for Uber and Waymo
It looks like Waymo and Uber’s partnership is cooling.
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As competition among operators has intensified over the last few months, the two companies have found different partners for autonomous vehicle rollouts. According to WedBush analysts, these moves could signal that Waymo and Uber’s relationship is deteriorating.
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On July 17, Uber announced a deal with Lucid to launch a robotaxi program next year. Then on Monday, Waymo announced it will launch a ridesharing service in Dallas next year in a new, multi-year partnership with Avis Budget Group.
“In our view, yesterday's news further validates our hypothesis that Uber's evolving approach to protect its value proposition will likely put its relationship with Waymo at risk,” the WedBush analyst note said.
Uber had announced last year that it would launch in Dallas with Avride. It currently handles 1.5 million AV rides annually, including both passenger and delivery trips, after collaborating with 18 AV firms. The ride-hailing company holds exclusivity over Waymo’s distribution in Atlanta and Austin.
“While Uber has done a great job of positioning itself as a beneficiary of Waymo expansion, we believe this perceived benefit may flip once the distribution need for the ‘autonomous on training wheels’ phase of development is complete,” WedBush analysts Scott Devitt and Matthew Weiss said in a note to investors on Tuesday.
In San Francisco and Los Angeles, Waymo vehicles are available directly through the Waymo platform. Analysts expect the company to take a similar first-party approach when it launches in Washington, D.C. and Miami next year. Waymo reports giving about 250,000 paid robotaxi rides each week in cities like Phoenix, Austin, Los Angeles, and San Francisco and is also returning to Nashville for more testing later this summer.
The “Waymo on Uber” partnership debuted in Phoenix, Arizona in 2023, followed by an expansion to Austin earlier this year and to Atlanta in June. The collaboration had been expected to boost AV ride volume and visibility for both Uber and Alphabet, Waymo’s parent company, as they scale their self-driving ambitions.
– Niamh Rowe contributed to this article.