Waymo has told Uber it will launch its own rider app in Austin and Atlanta starting in January 2028. The move ends an exclusivity deal that funneled all Waymo robotaxi rides through Uber in those cities. Hundreds of the autonomous vehicles will stay available on the Uber platform until at least May 2028 under the current contract. But the writing is on the wall. Competition in the self-driving ride market just got more direct.
The news broke Friday. It follows months of growing friction between the two companies that once needed each other. Alphabet’s Waymo now operates in 11 U.S. metro areas on its own app and logs more than 500,000 paid rides a week. That scale gives the unit confidence to go solo. Uber, meanwhile, sees the split as an opening to add rival autonomous providers to its network in those Texas and Georgia markets.
An Uber spokesperson confirmed the notification to CNBC. “We have been notified by Waymo that they intend to launch the Waymo app in Austin and Atlanta in January 2028, alongside their existing deployment with Uber,” the statement read. This “would end Waymo’s exclusivity in Austin and Atlanta and allow us to launch with other AV providers in those cities, which we will be prepared to do.”
The arrangement had its roots in a 2023 partnership. Back then Uber lacked its own autonomous fleet after selling its self-driving unit years earlier. Waymo needed distribution. The deal put driverless Jaguar I-PACE vehicles on the Uber app first in Phoenix. Austin and Atlanta followed in 2025 with tighter exclusivity terms. Riders there could not summon a Waymo directly through its app. They had to use Uber and hope for a match.
But tensions mounted. The Financial Times reported that Waymo held internal talks about exiting the partnership entirely, citing disagreements over service quality, safety and regulation. Bloomberg detailed Uber’s frustrations. They included what the company called unsustainable economics, persistent safety problems and a lack of transparency from Waymo on incidents. Examples cited range from vehicles driving into flooded roads despite a software recall to illegally passing school buses in Austin. In one Atlanta episode last May dozens of empty Waymo cars circled a cul-de-sac. Waymo blamed Uber’s routing instructions. Uber said it learned of the school bus events from news reports rather than direct communication.
The Phoenix pilot ended quietly in June. That market had run for nearly three years as a limited test with just over a dozen vehicles at times. “Phoenix was our first pilot market with Waymo and was an intentionally limited deployment,” an Uber spokesperson told Reuters. The companies have not expanded their joint footprint since Atlanta launched last June. Instead Waymo has rolled out its standalone service in six additional cities.
Lyft CEO David Risher captured the shifting power dynamic in November 2025. He described his company’s similar arrangement with Waymo as a “situationship.” The term stuck. Waymo controls the vehicles, the software and, increasingly, the direct relationship with riders. Partners provide scale but risk becoming commoditized distribution channels.
Uber has spent the past year hedging its bets. The company struck deals with Avride, invested in Nuro and committed more than $1 billion toward up to 50,000 Rivian-built autonomous vehicles. None match Waymo’s current volume or reliability yet. Several partners won’t deploy at scale until late this year or 2027. That gap explains why Uber shares dropped more than 4 percent Friday, closing below $66. The stock is down roughly 20 percent for the year. Investors worry that losing exclusive access to the leading robotaxi operator will erode a business that only recently achieved its first full-year profit.
Regulatory battles add another layer. Uber’s chief technology officer Praveen Neppalli posted criticism of Waymo’s driving behavior on X earlier this year, calling some maneuvers unsafe. During a May earnings call CEO Dara Khosrowshahi voiced support for regulators without naming Waymo directly. The two sides now appear headed for clashes over rules governing robotaxi networks in multiple states. TechCrunch reported that Uber’s lobbying puts it on a collision course with its former partner.
And the stakes extend beyond two cities. San Francisco, Los Angeles, Phoenix and newer markets have shown strong consumer adoption. Parents in Los Angeles use Waymo to ferry children, avoiding the hassles of human drivers. The service’s safety record in controlled areas has drawn riders away from traditional ride-hail options. Yet incidents still occur. They fuel debates about when and how regulators should permit broader expansion.
Waymo’s weekly ride volume now exceeds half a million. That figure has grown steadily as the company adds vehicles and refines its mapping and perception systems. Direct app bookings let the firm capture more data and control pricing. Uber, by contrast, takes a commission but loses influence over the customer experience. The January 2028 launch in Austin and Atlanta will test whether riders prefer the simplicity of one app or stick with the platform that aggregates multiple transport modes.
Short term nothing changes for passengers. The existing fleet remains on Uber through May 2028. Both companies will operate in parallel for several months. That overlap could reveal real demand numbers. How many rides did Uber actually drive for Waymo? The answer may influence negotiations elsewhere.
Longer term the split accelerates a broader industry shift. Robotaxi operators want to own the customer relationship. Platform companies want diverse supply to maintain network effects. The former courtroom adversaries have become occasional collaborators and now direct competitors. Their history includes lawsuits over self-driving technology before the 2023 truce.
Other players watch closely. Tesla pushes its own unsupervised driving plans. Chinese firms expand in Asia. Traditional automakers partner with tech suppliers. Yet few match Waymo’s operational maturity in multiple cities. The Alphabet unit’s ability to handle complex urban environments without a safety driver sets a high bar.
Uber’s pivot toward ownership of autonomous assets signals confidence. Its Rivian order and Nuro investment aim to reduce reliance on any single provider. Success depends on those partners reaching commercial readiness soon. Delays could leave gaps in key markets.
For now the focus stays on Austin and Atlanta. Those launches in 2025 marked Waymo’s first exclusive Uber markets after Phoenix. The coming change marks their transition to open competition. Riders may soon choose between hailing a Waymo directly or mixing it with other options inside the Uber app. The data from that experiment will shape strategies for years ahead.
Analysts expect more markets to follow a similar path. Phoenix already has. San Francisco could see increased pressure as Uber prepares deployments with Lucid and Nuro vehicles there by late 2026. The robotaxi race is no longer about technology alone. It centers on who controls the app, the data and the pricing power. Waymo’s latest move tilts that balance further in its favor. But execution risks remain high for everyone involved.
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