Key facts
- Waymo co-CEO Tekedra Mawakana told Bloomberg the split covers Austin and Atlanta and starts in January 2028.
- Mawakana said riders in those markets will book through Waymo's own app, as in other cities.
- Mawakana said the Uber experience was "a little bit of a crapshoot" because riders could not be sure of getting a robotaxi.
- Uber told Bloomberg that not adding a direct robotaxi booking option in its app was Waymo's idea.
Waymo will end its exclusive robotaxi partnership with Uber in Austin and Atlanta starting in January 2028, co-CEO Tekedra Mawakana told Bloomberg News in a report published on November 4, 2026. The robotaxi company will instead offer rides directly through its own smartphone app, as it does in other cities.
Mawakana told Bloomberg that Waymo initially partnered with Uber because the ride-hail company offered scale. She said the rider experience had been "a little bit of a crapshoot," particularly because riders never know for sure whether they will hail a robotaxi or a human-driven car. "It's important for us to have that relationship with the rider. We've gotten that feedback from the riders in those markets," she said.
Uber, which has many robotaxi and other autonomous vehicle partners, told Bloomberg that it was Waymo's idea not to add an option in the ride-hail company's app to book a robotaxi directly. Bloomberg reported that customers in Austin and Atlanta who want an autonomous Waymo ride can for now do so exclusively through Uber's platform, and that the change is set for January 2028, when Waymo said it intends to launch the service through its own app in those cities.