Waymo co-CEO addresses scrapped Uber deal as rivalry between rideshare giants heats up: It was a crapshoot
Waymo’s planned scrap of its partnership with Uber in two major markets comes as co-CEO of the self-driving juggernaut said riders’ ability to call an autonomous ride through the app was a “crapshoot.”Tekedra Mawakana, who helps lead Alphabet’s Waymo, said her company’s plan to end an exclusive robotaxi partnership with Uber in Atlanta and Austin came after customer feedback for more consistency when ordering self-driving rides.“In the early days, we would partner because we didn’t have the scale, and in that partnering, it was a little bit of a crapshoot.Will I get a Waymo? Will I not get a Waymo?,” Mawakana said in an interview with Bloomberg News’s Emily Chang. The exclusive partnership – in which riders use Uber to hail autonomous Waymo vehicles – will sunset in January 2028, once Waymo begins to offer the service through its own app in those cities. The comments shed light on the burgeoning rivalry between ride hailing platforms and makers of self-driving vehicles. The moves are the latest indication that ride-hailing platforms like Uber and Lyft could potentially get cut out of the market – which some investors have long predicted – as makers of self-driving cars launch their own apps.
Elon Musk’s Tesla has also sought to rely on its own robotaxi app rather than deepening ties with the ride-hailing networks.Waymo – which operates roughly 4,000 vehicles across the US and does more than 500,000 trips per week in 14 cities – already offers rides through its own app in San Francisco and other markets, putting it in competition with Uber.Mawakana said the decision to scrap the Uber partnership came after riders expressed difficulty with securing Waymos in Austin and Atlanta – even though they can indicate a preference for an autonomous vehicle in Uber’s app.She added that customers wanted a consistent offering from a single app.“It’s important for us to have that relationship with the rider.
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