Waymo to ditch Uber app exclusivity in Austin and Atlanta by 2028
Waymo's co-CEO says routing robotaxi rides only through Uber was a "crapshoot" for riders — so Waymo plans to launch its own app in those cities.
What happened: Waymo Co-CEO Tekedra Mawakana said the company will end its exclusive deal with Uber in Austin and Atlanta, launching its own rider app in those cities starting January 2028. Right now, riders in those two markets can only book a Waymo through Uber's app, and even then they're not guaranteed one — they can flag a preference for a self-driving car, but get matched with a human driver if no Waymo is nearby. Mawakana called that setup “a crapshoot” and said the switch comes from rider feedback demanding more consistency.
Why it matters: Waymo already runs its own app in cities like San Francisco and Phoenix, where it competes directly with Uber. Extending that model to Austin and Atlanta signals Waymo wants a direct relationship with riders everywhere, not just a backseat role inside someone else's app. Uber, meanwhile, is leaning harder into self-driving: an Uber executive said on its latest earnings call that the company plans to more than double the self-driving cars on its platform over the next year and is seeking outside financing to build its own autonomous fleets.
How it works, plainly: Today, Waymo supplies the cars and self-driving software; Uber supplies the app, the dispatching, and the customer relationship in cities where they partner. Waymo still relies on partners like Uber, Lyft and fleet managers to run its roughly 4,000 vehicles across 14 US cities, doing more than 500,000 trips a week. But as Waymo's own app matures, it's pulling that customer relationship back in-house market by market, while still keeping Uber as a partner elsewhere.
The rollout: The Austin and Atlanta change won't happen until January 2028, so nothing shifts for riders immediately. Uber says it had actually asked Waymo to make the "prefer a robotaxi" option more reliable in those two cities, but Waymo declined. Longer term, Waymo also wants to license its self-driving tech to automakers, while Uber is positioning itself as a financier and operator for multiple self-driving car fleets — not just Waymo's.