Waymo weighs split from Uber as robotaxi rivalry deepens
Alphabet's Waymo is reportedly moving to unwind its robotaxi partnership with Uber in stages — the two already ended their three-year Phoenix tie-up, and will end exclusivity in Atlanta and Austin in early 2028. As the two biggest robotaxi players increasingly compete head-on and clash over regulation, it's a sign of how contentious the market Tesla is chasing has become.
Waymo and Uber's partnership began in Phoenix in 2023 and later expanded to more cities. But according to the Financial Times, the companies are now unwinding that alliance in stages.
The three-year Phoenix partnership has already ended, and the companies' exclusivity arrangement in Atlanta and Austin will end in early 2028 — Waymo has already told Uber it plans to launch robotaxi service on its own app in both cities starting January 2028, running alongside the existing Uber-app offering for a period.
The strain stems partly from the companies increasingly competing head-to-head in the same markets while lobbying for robotaxi regulations that favor their own business models, and reportedly blaming each other over service-quality and safety issues. Earlier this year, Uber CTO Praveen Neppalli posted video he described as 'unsafe' and 'scary' Waymo robotaxi behavior, and in May, Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi mildly criticized Waymo's robotaxi behavior around school zones and emergency situations on an earnings call.
For Tesla shareholders, this is a competitor story, but a fraying alliance between the robotaxi market's two biggest players signals just how contested that market is becoming. As Tesla pushes to scale up its own robotaxi business, whether this rift becomes an opening or an added risk is worth watching.
Summaries are prepared by the Tesla Briefing editorial team and may not capture every nuance of the original reporting. You are solely responsible for your own investment decisions.