Uber and Waymo to offer driverless ride-sharing trips in Austin and Atlanta

Sharing is Caring!

Uber announced Friday it is expanding its partnership with Alphabet’s Waymo to offer robotaxi rides in Austin, Texas, and Atlanta beginning in early 2025. Shares of Uber jumped 5% on the news while Alphabet rose about 1%.

Uber riders in those cities can be matched with a driverless Waymo car for some trips, according to the companies. The rides will only be available through Uber’s app, unlike in San Francisco and Los Angeles where riders book through the Waymo app. A Waymo spokesperson said it had no plans to partner with Uber in San Francisco and Los Angeles.

See also  Ron Paul accepts Elon Musk's offer, as the Trump administration begins to take shape

The expansion comes as Uber faces investor pressure to step up its autonomous vehicle strategy, especially ahead of Tesla’s planned robotaxi event slated for Oct. 10. Shares of Uber have fallen 9% since the Tesla event was announced and are off 17% from their 52-week highs.

It may also slow Waymo encroachment into Uber’s market share. An analysis from Bernstein estimated that, as of May 2024, Waymo’s 50,000 weekly paid rides made up approximately 2% of ride-sharing usage in San Francisco. Since then, Waymo has doubled its paid robotaxi trips to 100,000 a week, the company announced.

See also  Austin Office Market Sees 49% Discount on Major Property Sale: Capitol Tower and Bridgepoint Square Sell for $64.5M

“We’re thrilled to build on our successful partnership with Waymo, which has already powered fully autonomous trips for tens of thousands of riders in Phoenix,” Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi said in a release.

Source: www.cnbc.com/2024/09/13/uber-and-waymo-partnership-expanding-to-austin-and-atlanta.html


Views: 21

Leave a Comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.