Uber Technologies Inc. and Waymo announced a multi-year partnership on Tuesday to provide autonomous driving technology for rideshare and delivery in Phoenix.
Waymo, which is owned by Alphabet, is a ride-hailing company that currently offers fully autonomous rides to the public in the East Valley of Phoenix and continues to grow its ridership in San Francisco.
"We’re excited to offer another way for people to experience the enjoyable and life-saving benefits of full autonomy," Tekedra Mawakana, co-CEO of Waymo said. "Uber has long been a leader in human-operated ridesharing, and the pairing of our pioneering technology and all-electric fleet with their customer network provides Waymo with an opportunity to reach even more people."
Uber and Waymo were both launched in 2009, with the latter launching the Google self-driving car project that year. Waymo says on its site that the company challenged itself to drive autonomously over ten uninterrupted 100-mile routes in Toyota Prius vehicles.
Nearly a month later, the company succeeded in driving more autonomous miles than had ever been driven before.
In 2015, Waymo put 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.
Then the next year, Waymo launched Waymo One in Phoenix.
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"Now, we’re partnering to bring together Waymo’s world-leading autonomous driving technology with the massive scale of Uber’s ridesharing and delivery networks," the blog read.
Waymo said its integration with Uber will launch sometime this year in Phoenix and will include ride-hailing trips and deliveries.
Uber users will be able to experience what Waymo has to offer through both the Uber and Uber Eats apps, while those who currently use Waymo to hail a vehicle will still be able to continue to do so through the Waymo One app.
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"Uber provides access to a global and reliable marketplace across mobility, delivery, and freight," Dara Khosrowshahi, CEO of Uber said. "Fully autonomous driving is quickly becoming part of everyday life, and we're excited to bring Waymo's incredible technology to the Uber platform."
