Waymo and Uber end robotaxi pilot in Phoenix

Waymo robotaxi rides are now available Uber The app is available in Phoenix, Arizona, the companies confirmed Monday.

“Phoenix was our first pilot market with Waymo, and it was an intentionally limited rollout reaching more than a dozen vehicles dedicated to the program,” Uber said in a statement. “We learned a lot from this collaboration, helping us quickly scale Austin and Atlanta, where hundreds of Waymo AVs are available exclusively on Uber, and where our coverage continues to expand.”

The end of the robotaxi pilot program raises questions about Uber’s dominance in the future of autonomous driving services.

Uber executives have touted the company as an important platform that robotaxi players should rely on to meet demand. The ride-hailing giant has signed partnerships with all major autonomous vehicle developers except the following. Tesla’s.

Tesla’s fledgling robotaxi service operates today with a very limited fleet of just 69 registered, automated vehicles in Texas.

Waymo said in a statement that the Uber initiative “has been a productive pilot that paves the way for future expansions and partnerships around the world.”

autonomous vehicles, Google The sister company assigned to the Phoenix Uber pilot will continue to be used there and will roll out autonomous deliveries. Door IndicatorCompeting with Uber Eats.

Waymo, which operates a fleet of nearly 4,000 automated vehicles in the U.S., is making its driverless rides available today exclusively through Uber in Austin and Atlanta. Waymo’s robotaxi passenger rides are available in nine other cities, primarily through its own app and on a limited basis through public transportation partnerships.

Waymo plans to offer robotaxi rides Lyft in Nashville later this year without exclusivity.

Autonomous vehicle industry researcher Grayson Brulte, founder of Autmny AI, noted the end of the companies’ work together in Phoenix in a social media post on Monday. The pilot program ended about a month ago.

Uber said it plans to partner with another AV company in Phoenix but did not say which one.

Last fall, Tesla received a permit allowing it to operate a ride-hailing service in Arizona; This was a step towards the promise of establishing a massive robotaxi service in the US. The company also received permission to test autonomous vehicles with a human safety driver in Arizona.

Amazon-owned Zoox in March in question would conduct testing in hopes of expanding its driverless ride-hailing services to Phoenix this year.

During the first quarter earnings call, Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi announced Uber’s partnerships in the self-driving space; rivyaZoox, China’s Pony.AI and Croatia’s Verne.

“AV Mobility rides on Uber have increased more than 10x year over year, and we’re currently in eight cities with plans to increase that number to 15 by the end of the year,” he said.

Waymo is the clear leader in the US and is aiming to expand internationally this year.

Since last month, the company has issued a pair of voluntary software recalls, including fixing issues that allowed Waymo robotaxis to enter construction zones on highways in Phoenix.

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