Waymo robotaxis are now available through Uber in first city

Abner Li | Oct 26 2023 - 9:12 am PT

Back in May, Uber announced a multiyear strategic partnership to make Waymo robotaxis available in its app, and that’s now happening in Phoenix, Arizona.

The Alphabet company has operated autonomous vehicles in Phoenix since late 2020 with its own Waymo One ride-hailing service. Currently, “tens of thousands of people hail the Waymo Driver every month in Metro Phoenix,” with over 10,000 rides each week in that region.

Waymo’s driverless cars (all-electric Jaguar I-Pace) will be available to Uber customers as an option in Metro Phoenix (225+ square miles, which “includes Sky Harbor International Airport’s 24th St and 44th St SkyTrain locations”) when they request a ride.

Available with UberX, Uber Green, Uber Comfort, or Uber Comfort Electric, you’ll “have the option to confirm a ride in a Waymo vehicle if matched to one.” As such, you can dismiss and opt for a regular ride.

Once the car arrives, riders unlock the doors from inside the Uber app. There’s access to “24/7 customer support” in the Uber app and inside the vehicle.

Looking ahead, we expect that the number of human drivers and AVs on the Uber platform will continue to grow, side by side, for quite a long time as we continue to scale a hybrid, global network that combines both.
Uber

With Uber, Waymo gets a much larger customer base. However, “riders will still be able to hail the Waymo Driver directly through the Waymo One app.” One differentiation is that using Waymo One always gets you a driverless vehicle. However, the Uber app will let customers “increase their chances of being matched with an AV by opting in via the Ride Preferences section.”

Waymo One is also available in San Francisco, with public testing underway in Los Angeles, with Austin being the next city.