TL;DRWaymo and Uber ended their robotaxi partnership in Phoenix as both pursue separate autonomous vehicle strategies across dozens of new markets.
Waymo robotaxis are no longer available on Uber’s app in Phoenix, ending a nearly three-year partnership in the city that served as the first test of whether the two former courtroom rivals could work together. Both companies confirmed the split to TechCrunch on Monday. Waymo said the vehicles have already been folded back into its own Phoenix fleet, where they will continue serving riders through its app, including public transit trips with Via and deliveries with DoorDash.
Uber said it is readying a separate autonomous vehicle partnership in Phoenix but did not name the partner. The quiet breakup, which Waymo said happened in May, was first spotted by riders who noticed the company’s vehicles had disappeared from Uber’s network. Phoenix was the only city where Waymo operated both through its own app and through Uber, an unusual overlap that neither company seemed motivated to sustain.
The split arrives as Waymo is deploying its newest robotaxi, the Zeekr-made Ojai, a purpose-built van that costs roughly 75,000 dollars less per unit to produce than the Jaguar I-PACE it replaces. The two companies are also heading toward a direct confrontation in London, where Waymo plans to launch its own service while Uber is partnering with the British autonomous driving startup Wayve. Both praised the Phoenix collaboration, with Uber calling it an intentionally limited deployment of just over a dozen vehicles that helped it scale faster in Austin and Atlanta.
