Uber is publicly trashing its robotaxi partner Waymo while simultaneously investing more than $10 billion to build its own autonomous vehicle fleet with Rivian, Lucid, and Nuro.
The ride-hailing giant’s executives have spent the last few months taking direct shots at Waymo’s technology and deployment strategy — even as Waymo vehicles still operate on Uber’s platform in Austin and Atlanta.
Uber execs go after Waymo
According to a new Business Insider report, Uber executives have been painting AV-only operators like Alphabet’s Waymo as “less scalable” and “less reliable” than Uber’s hybrid approach, which mixes human drivers with robotaxis on a single ride-hailing platform.
The attacks haven’t been subtle. Uber CTO Praveen Neppalli shared a video on X in April showing what he described as a “scary” encounter with a Waymo vehicle in San Francisco. The Waymo appeared to overtake a Muni bus in the wrong lane, squeezing between the bus and Neppalli’s car. He wrote: “Big fan of AVs, but perception ≠ judgment. Edge cases matter!”
