Robotaxi reports.

Waymo ends Uber exclusivity

Waymo will stop relying solely on Uber to reach riders in Austin and Atlanta. Co-chief executive Tekedra Mawakana told Bloomberg on November 4 that the company plans to launch its own app in both cities in January 2028, ending the exclusivity under which Waymo rides there can be hailed only through Uber, according to Bloomberg's report as syndicated by Yahoo Finance. TechCrunch added that Waymo's existing contract with Uber was set to run to May 2028, and amended its article to make clear that Mawakana was speaking about exclusivity rather than a complete break.

Mawakana framed the change as a response to rider complaints. When a customer asks for a Waymo in the Uber app, the request is matched with a robotaxi only if one is nearby, and otherwise a human-driven car arrives. She described that experience as "a little bit of a crapshoot," in her words to Bloomberg: riders do not know whether they will get a Waymo. She also said a direct relationship with riders matters, pointing to feedback from markets such as San Francisco, where Waymo already runs its own app.

Uber gave a different account of how the arrangement reached this point. It told Bloomberg that it had asked Waymo to add a robotaxi option to the Uber app for Austin and Atlanta, to make those trips easier to select, and that Waymo declined. Uber said it will keep hosting Waymo vehicles on its platform for as long as the two companies agree, according to TechCrunch. Waymo declined to comment on its discussions with Uber.

Riders will not see a change soon. January 2028 is more than a year away, and Waymo vehicles are expected to remain available on Uber in both cities at least through the contract term. What the statement settles is the direction: Waymo intends to own the customer relationship in two of the few remaining markets where it does not.

How the Uber split developed

The plan was not new on November 4. An Uber spokesperson confirmed on July 24 that Waymo had given notice it would launch through its own app in Austin and Atlanta in January 2028 alongside its existing deployment on Uber, according to The Next Web. The Financial Times had first reported that Waymo was weighing a fuller exit. Uber shares fell more than 4 percent that day to close below $66, their lowest level in more than a year, The Next Web reported.

The two companies have a longer history. They first partnered in May 2023 in Phoenix and extended the arrangement in 2025 to Austin and Atlanta, Automotive World reported. The Phoenix arrangement ended in May 2026 when its agreement expired. Under the Austin and Atlanta structure, Uber manages the vehicle fleets with a partner, Avomo, according to the same report.

Reporting in July described friction on both sides. Bloomberg, as summarized by The Next Web, said Uber cited deal economics it considered unsustainable, safety concerns and Waymo's disclosure of incidents, including reports of Waymo vehicles passing stopped school buses in Austin. In Atlanta, dozens of empty Waymo vehicles gathered in a cul-de-sac in May, and Waymo blamed Uber's routing. Those accounts are the companies' positions as relayed by the press; neither company has published a joint account.

The contrast with other markets matters. Bloomberg reports that Waymo operates about 4,000 vehicles in the United States and delivers more than 500,000 trips a week across 14 cities, and that it uses partners such as Uber and Lyft and fleet-management companies to run them. In most of those cities riders already use Waymo's own app.

Uber sets new robotaxi targets

Uber reported third-quarter results on November 4, the same day as Mawakana's interview. Gross bookings rose 20 percent from a year earlier to $59.8 billion, according to the company's earnings release filed with the SEC. The release quotes Khosrowshahi as saying the company's focus on autonomous vehicles "is now on commercial execution," and it projects about 700 fully driverless vehicles on Uber's platform by the end of 2026 and more than 2,000 in 2027.

InsideEVs, in coverage syndicated by Yahoo Finance, reported further detail from the call: Uber plans to spend $10 billion to place 2,000 robotaxis in its global fleet by the end of 2027, about half of them in the United States, with service across 20 cities by that year. The report named May Mobility, Momenta, Zoox and Motional among partners and said partners have committed to put 120,000 robotaxis on the platform over a longer, unspecified period. Uber said it would fund the build-out from its own earnings but might need outside capital once its autonomous fleet passes 10,000 vehicles.

The Uber release does not break the 700 and 2,000 figures down by operator or city, so it does not show how many will be Waymo vehicles. In July Uber said the change would let it bring other autonomous providers into Austin and Atlanta, The Next Web reported. Uber has said it is working with Avride, Nuro and Rivian, and some of those partners will not have vehicles on the road until late 2026 or later, according to the same report.

The strategic tension is visible. Uber's pitch is that a ride-hail network can aggregate many robotaxi makers. Waymo's decision, and the direct-app approach of Tesla, point the other way for the largest operators. Bloomberg noted that some investors question the future role of ride-hail platforms for that reason.

Tesla's position in the shift

Tesla sells its Robotaxi service through its own app and has not relied on Uber or Lyft in the Texas, Florida and other cities where it operates. Waymo's move to direct booking in Austin makes the Texas capital a market in which both companies, and possibly other operators on Uber, compete for riders through separate channels. The January 2028 date is far beyond Tesla's near-term plans.

The split also shows how much a robotaxi business depends on the rider relationship. Mawakana's complaint is about consistency of supply: a customer who opens an app wants to know a driverless car will arrive. Tesla's Robotaxi service controls the app, the pricing and the fleet, and Waymo's remarks suggest it has concluded the same arrangement serves riders better in the cities where it has not had it.

On Tesla's own schedule, the company said on its October 21 earnings call that Cybercab service in Dallas would begin in November, EV Wire summarized. Tesla has not given a start day, and dates circulating in fan commentary are outside estimates. Dallas already has Model Y Robotaxi service.

In Nevada, accounts conflict on how many vehicles Tesla may run. Electrek reported in August that the Nevada Transportation Authority had issued an interim order capping Tesla at 10 vehicles on the Las Vegas Strip corridor, while other outlets report a fuller permit approved on August 20 covering up to 5,000 vehicles. A November 4 post from a Tesla fan account counted 43 Cybercabs in a Las Vegas lot and said Tesla faces a commercial-start deadline under Nevada rules; that claim is unverified.

What to watch next

For the Waymo and Uber relationship, the next concrete markers are Waymo's own announcement of app availability in Austin and Atlanta, which it has put at January 2028, and any Uber statement naming the operators it will add in those cities. Uber's contract with Waymo runs to May 2028.

For Uber, the forward test is whether its year-end target of about 700 fully driverless vehicles is met, and which partners supply them. Its next quarterly report will show whether the autonomous fleet is growing as projected.

For Tesla, the nearest dated item is its promise of Cybercab service in Dallas during November, which would be announced through its Robotaxi account. In Nevada, a filing or order clarifying how many vehicles Tesla may operate in Las Vegas, and when it must begin carrying fare-paying passengers, would settle the conflicting reports.