Autonomous vehicle partnerships have become increasingly common in recent years in Houston as well as places like Phoenix, where Uber Technologies Inc. (NYSE: UBER) is teaming up with Waymo.
Under a new partnership announced May 23, Waymo is making available "a set number" of Jaguar I-Pace self-driving electric cars later this year for ride-hailing and food delivery on Uber and Uber Eats apps in the Phoenix area.
“We’re excited to offer another way for people to experience the enjoyable and life-saving benefits of full autonomy,” Tekedra Mawakana, co-CEO of Waymo, said in a statement. “Uber has long been a leader in human-operated ride-sharing, and the pairing of our pioneering technology and all-electric fleet with their customer network provides Waymo with an opportunity to reach even more people.”
Waymo, a subsidiary of Google owner Alphabet Inc. (Nasdaq: GOOGL), was not immediately available for comment on the specific number of vehicles that will be available on Uber’s app.
Waymo will continue to offer autonomous vehicles on its Waymo One app, according to the company's website.
"Uber provides access to a global and reliable marketplace across mobility, delivery, and freight,” Dara Khosrowshahi, CEO of Uber, said in a statement. “Fully autonomous driving is quickly becoming part of everyday life, and we're excited to bring Waymo's incredible technology to the Uber platform."
Earlier this month, Waymo expanded its autonomous ride-hailing service in the Phoenix area encompass more than 180 square miles, boosting its connection between downtown Phoenix and the East Valley. The service expansion includes Scottsdale, nearly all of Tempe and access in Chandler and Mesa.
Waymo One is currently providing more than 10,000 trips a week to riders in the Phoenix area and San Francisco — not including employee trips, according to the company. Waymo is focusing on growing ridership and increasing capacity in those metros and will then apply lessons learned there to grow its rider-only testing operations in Los Angeles, the company said earlier this month.
Meanwhile, "robotaxis" are already coming to Houston. Cruise LLC, an autonomous vehicle company majority-owned by General Motors (NYSE: GM), said earlier this month it will deploy self-driving cars on Houston streets.
Houston has been a hot spot for autonomous vehicle partnerships since Mountain View, California-based Nuro Inc. expanded its partnership with Kroger Co. (NYSE: KR) to the Bayou City in April 2019. Nuro announced it would pilot driverless grocery deliveries for Walmart Inc. (NYSE: WMT) in Houston in December 2019. In 2020, Nuro and CVS Pharmacy (NYSE: CVS) initiated a delivery program for prescriptions in the Bellaire area. Domino's Pizza Inc. (NYSE: DPZ) and Nuro kicked off a pilot program for driverless pizza deliveries in the Greater Heights area in April 2021. Around the same time, Nuro partnered with Memphis-based FedEx Corp. (NYSE: FDX) to test Nuro's autonomous delivery vehicles within FedEx's operations.
In September 2022, Nuro and San Francisco-based Uber Technologies Inc. (NYSE: UBER) inked a 10-year partnership for Uber Eats deliveries in the U.S., beginning in Houston and Mountain View.
Houston's growing population, climate, geography and driverless vehicle-friendly local regulations made the market attractive to Nuro, the company told the Houston Business Journal in 2019.
However, Nuro announced earlier this month it plans to reduce its headcount, move away from making its vehicles and focus on research and development in an effort to cut cost.
Waymo also has piloted partnerships in the Houston area in collaboration with Arkansas-based J.B. Hunt Transport Services (Nasdaq: JBHT). The autonomous trucking partnership has included Atlanta-based UPS (NYSE: UPS), Minnesota-based shipping company C.H. Robinson Worldwide Inc. (Nasdaq: CHRW) and Boston-based e-commerce company Wayfair.
Previous Houston Business Journal reporting has been added to this report.
