Waymo and Uber are quietly parting ways in Phoenix

Waymo robotaxis are no longer available on Uber’s ride-hailing app in Phoenix, Arizona, ending a nearly three-year partnership in the city, the two companies confirmed to TechCrunch on Monday.

Uber said it was preparing to launch a separate partnership for self-driving cars in the city, but did not mention the name of the partner. Waymo told TechCrunch that the vehicles Uber used in this “pilot” program have already been integrated into its Phoenix fleet, which is available through its app. Waymo users She started to notice that Company vehicles were absent From the Uber network in recent days. Waymo cars are still available on Uber in Austin and Atlanta, for example.

The quiet end to that partnership in Phoenix, which Waymo said occurred in May, comes as the Alphabet-owned company begins putting its newest automated vehicle into practice — the Zeekr. It is called Ojai —On the road. It’s also what the relationship between Uber and Waymo looks like Wear in some placesThe two companies are preparing to compete directly against each other in London early this year.

However, the two companies hailed the collaboration in Phoenix as a successful starting point for their respective robotics plans, which have become increasingly ambitious since 2023.

“This was a productive pilot that paved the way for future expansions and partnerships around the world. After hundreds of thousands of trips with Uber, we have integrated these vehicles back into our Phoenix fleet, where they will continue to serve riders through Waymo, including public transit integration with Via, and delivery with DoorDash,” Waymo told TechCrunch. “We are grateful to all of the Uber customers who take fully autonomous trips with us, and we look forward to continuing to serve the Phoenix community.”

“Phoenix was our first test market with Waymo and was an intentionally limited deployment, arriving at just over a dozen vehicles dedicated to the program. We learned a lot from this collaboration, which helped us scale quickly in Austin and Atlanta, where hundreds of Waymo AV vehicles are available exclusively on Uber and our partners.” The coverage area continues to expand“Uber said.

The robotics landscape looks a lot different than it did when these two companies started this collaboration in 2023. When it was first announced, the idea of ​​a partnership between Uber and Waymo still seemed unlikely given their power. A messy legal battle It ended in a settlement in 2018. Robotics as a technology was in a much more uncertain position, with no operator yet reaching scale. Cruze was still seen as a viable competitor, as it had yet to go through a scandal of its own and be absorbed into General Motors.

In the three years since, Waymo has grown its fleet to about 4,000 vehicles, and Uber has signed deals to add dozens of self-driving vehicle partners to its network.

This Phoenix partnership remained unusual, as it was the only city in which Waymo operated directly and through Uber. Waymo is launching its services in about 20 new cities this year, operating in 11 major metro areas in the U.S., and the company offers more than 500,000 rides weekly.