Uber CEO pushes back on Waymo breakup speculation, says partnership intact
Uber's chief executive says the company remains committed to working with Waymo in Austin and Atlanta, despite the earlier end of their Phoenix collaboration and signs of tension. Dara Khosrowshahi also stressed that Uber is seeking multiple autonomous vehicle partners.
Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi has dismissed suggestions that the company's relationship with Alphabet-owned Waymo is falling apart. Speaking on an earnings call, he said the two firms are still working together in Austin and Atlanta and described the on-the-ground cooperation as very strong. He added that Uber expects to keep operating in those markets next year.
The comments come after Uber and Waymo ended their robotaxi partnership in Phoenix earlier in the year. That move led industry observers to question whether the companies were drifting apart. There have also been other signs of strain. Uber's chief technology officer posted about a scary Waymo moment on social media, and an Uber white paper argued for a hybrid model combining human drivers and robots rather than an autonomous-vehicle-only approach. Last month, the companies took opposing positions on Washington, D.C. legislation that would legalize robotaxi services, with Waymo backing the bill and Uber pushing for a hybrid setup.
Khosrowshahi did not directly address those incidents. Instead, he emphasized that Waymo is not Uber's only robotaxi partner. He said Uber wants to avoid being dependent on any single partner and pointed to what he called a large number of new players in the autonomous vehicle field. Uber has already connected with a long list of AV companies, including Zoox, Wayve, Avride, Nuro, Motional and Waabi. The ride-hailing firm has said it plans to spend more than $10 billion to expand its robotaxi business over time.
Yet Waymo is the only partner currently operating at a large scale. It has shown it can work both with and without Uber, which suggests the relationship may be more important for Uber than for Waymo. Still, Khosrowshahi played down the immediate impact of robotaxis on Uber's platform, noting that they represent less than 0.5 percent of total trip volume. He argued that physical AI, meaning real-world technologies such as robots and driverless cars, is advancing more slowly than large language models like ChatGPT, and that there is time to build a competitive field with other partners.
His caution might be understandable. Uber and Waymo are partners in a few markets, but they are mostly competitors. Early evidence indicates Waymo has been taking market share from traditional ride-hailing services like Uber and Lyft. Both companies may need each other while robotaxis are still in their infancy, but the longer-term outlook remains uncertain.
