Alphabet-owned Waymo and Uber are expanding their partnership and will begin offering driverless rides in Austin and Atlanta starting next year.
In early 2025, the company plans to “dispatch a fleet of Waymo’s fully autonomous, all-electric Jaguar I-PACE vehicles that will grow to hundreds over time,” the rideshare giant announced Friday.
This means riders who request an UberX, Uber Green, Uber Comfort or Uber Comfort Electric could be matched with a Waymo “for qualifying trips,” the company said.
UBER PARTNERS WITH WAYMO TO PROVIDE AUTONOMOUS DRIVING TECH TO RIDESHARE USERS IN ARIZONA
This builds on the companies’ exclusive multi-year partnership, which was announced in May 2023. To start, they first launched autonomous driving technology for rideshare and delivery in Phoenix.
To date, Waymo has already “powered fully autonomous trips for tens of thousands of riders in Phoenix,” Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi said.
In 2015, Waymo debuted the first fully autonomous ride on public roads, and in 2017, the company invited Phoenix residents to participate in a public trial involving autonomously driven vehicles.
Waymo has simultaneously increased ridership in San Francisco.
However, the launch of driverless cars hasn’t been easy.
Earlier this year, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) began an investigation into self-driving car companies Waymo and Zoox for violating traffic laws and being involved in collisions.
ANALYSIS REVEALS HOW GM’S CRUISE ROBOTAXI STRUCK AND DRAGGED PEDESTRIAN 20 FEET
“We are proud of our performance and safety record over tens of millions of autonomous miles driven, as well as our demonstrated commitment to safety transparency,” a Waymo spokesperson previously told FOX Business, adding that the “NHTSA plays a very important role in road safety and we will continue to work with them as part of our mission to become the world’s most trusted driver.”
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Earlier this year, GM announced it was planning to cut spending on the Cruise in half or by roughly $1 billion this year as it relaunches the unit following an accident last year.
According to an analysis commissioned by GM, a series of technical failures were to blame for the October 2023 accident in which a woman was struck and dragged 20 feet by a Cruise robotaxi.
It marked a major setback for the entire autonomous vehicle industry as the company paused its driverless operations and several executives were dismissed.
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