Waymo, Alphabet’s self-driving unit, has agreed to a multi-year strategic partnership with Uber that will see some of Waymo’s autonomous vehicle technology join Uber’s platform.
From Tech Crunch by Rebecca Bellan.
The collaboration comes a few weeks after Waymo’s chief product officer Saswat Panigrahi said the company aims to increase ridership tenfold by next summer. By partnering with an existing ride-hail and delivery platform, Waymo could expand its reach and secure new customers beyond those who have already downloaded the company’s branded Waymo One app.
The deal with Uber also strengthens the long-term strategic partnership between Waymo Via, Waymo’s autonomous trucking arm, and Uber Freight, Uber’s logistics spinout.
“Uber has long been a leader in human-operated ride-sharing, and the pairing of our pioneering technology and all-electric fleet with their customer network provides Waymo with an opportunity to reach even more people,” said Tekedra Mawakana, co-CEO of Waymo, in a statement.
The first phase of the partnership will start later this year in the Metro Phoenix area. Earlier this month, Waymo doubled its service area in the region to 180 square miles, including downtown, the airport, Arizona State Universities and other East Valley suburbs.
A “set number” of Waymo vehicles will be integrated into both the Uber and Uber Eats apps to facilitate ride-hail and delivery services, according to a Waymo blog post. However, it’s not clear what portion of Waymo’s overall fleet will be made available to Uber. Waymo currently operates “a couple hundred” self-driving cars in each of its Waymo One service areas, limited to Phoenix and San Francisco, with testing taking place in Austin and Los Angeles. Waymo has clarified that it will not exclusively allocate vehicles to Uber. Instead, when a Waymo vehicle is accessible for a qualifying ride, Uber users will have the option to request a car through the Uber app.
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