Waymo And Uber Overcome Past Differences, Collaborate On Robotaxis In Phoenix

Together, Waymo and Uber, the market leaders in ride-hailing, will use self-driving vehicles to transport people and deliver food in the Phoenix area. Here's what we know about the exciting collaboration:

Waymo and Uber will use self-driving vehicles

Waymo

This collaboration came about as a result of a fierce technological disagreement between the two businesses. With the help of the agreement announced on Tuesday, Waymo will have yet another way to grow the robotaxi service it has been operating in the Phoenix area since late 2020, competing with Uber vehicles that still rely on humans to collect a portion of the fares for passengers.

Although Waymo and the General Motors subsidiary Cruise are seeking to establish comparable autonomous services in San Francisco, Phoenix remains the only significant metro region where a robotaxi is now operational throughout much of the city.

Five years after the two companies spent millions of dollars fighting each other in court, Waymo is making its driverless vehicles available to Uber in Phoenix.

Twitter Screengrab

The legal dispute over allegations that former Uber CEO Travis Kalanick and former Google employee Anthony Levandowski plotted to steal Waymo's self-driving vehicle technology was finally resolved when Uber agreed to a $245 million settlement.

Waymo filed a lawsuit against Uber in 2017

Waymo filed a lawsuit against Uber in 2017 after receiving the technology from Google in a spin-off. Kalanick was called to testify in a high-profile trial that resulted from that, and in February 2018, the two parties unexpectedly reached a deal.

Uber settled high-stakes trade-secret theft lawsuit brought by Waymo
* Uber agreed to pay 0.34% of its equity, or about $245 million, according to person with knowledge of the accord
* Uber¡¯s general counsel declined to comment on settlement figure
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¡ª Bloomberg Technology (@technology) February 9, 2018

However, Levandowski escaped an 18-month prison term in January 2021 when he was pardoned by President Donald Trump just before he left office. Levandowski later pleaded guilty to criminal charges that emerged from the civil complaint.

The self-driving car section that led to the theft accusations was later sold by Uber, which also supplied the technology for the robotic vehicle that killed a pedestrian in Tempe, Arizona, in March 2018.

However, Uber is still interested in driverless technology as a potential means of increasing its earnings by doing away with the need for drivers. Later this year, as part of the new partnership in Phoenix, Waymo will send out some of its autonomous cars to pick up passengers and deliver food when requested through the Uber app.

The number of Waymo's robotaxis that will pick up Uber passengers and deliver food was not disclosed by the two businesses. In a hearing scheduled for June 29, California regulators will decide whether to allow Waymo and Cruise to start charging for 24-hour driverless rides across San Francisco.

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