As of today, you can no longer book an Uber without a driver in Phoenix. The two companies are no longer partnered in Phoenix, with robotaxi rides ending Monday. This leaves Austin and Atlanta as the company’s two active markets.
“Phoenix was our first pilot market with Waymo and was an intentionally limited deployment, reaching just over a dozen vehicles dedicated to the program,” Uber said in a statement. “We learned a lot from that collaboration, which helped us to quickly scale Austin and Atlanta, where hundreds of Waymo AVs are available exclusively on Uber and our coverage area continues to expand.”
Waymo, meanwhile, said that its partnership with Uber was a stepping stone. The partnership “was a productive pilot that paved the way for future expansions and partnerships across the globe.” While active ridesharing has ended, the vehicles will stick around. They will be used for autonomous deliveries via DoorDash.
Last month, Waymo issued voluntary software recalls for vehicles in the Phoenix area. The vehicles were ignoring construction zones on freeways. Another recall covered 3,800 Waymo AVs that were entering flood zones: “We are working to implement additional software safeguards and have put mitigations in place, including refining our extreme weather operations during periods of intense rain, limiting access to areas where flash flooding might occur.”
Uber argued that it was key to autonomous taxi companies like Waymo, bringing scores of users to a service many were either entirely unaware of or deeply hesitant to participate in. The company has also said it will partner with another autonomous taxi company in Phoenix, but didn’t specify which…