Uber offering driverless rides with Waymo in Atlanta, Austin
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Uber is partnering with Waymo to bring driverless rides to the metro Atlanta area. The rideshare option will be available to Uber customers starting in 2025. **ATLANTA** - 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.
**RELATED:** Driverless cars tested on Atlanta streets as Georgia Tech researches technology. 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.