Waymo to launch its own app in Austin, Atlanta, splitting from Uber

Starting in January 2028, Waymo will begin pulling out of its ride-hailing arrangement with Uber in two markets — Austin and Atlanta — co-CEO Tekedra Mawakana told Bloomberg News on Wednesday, confirming that riders there will book trips straight through Waymo’s own app instead, the way they already can in other cities Waymo serves. Uber told TechCrunch the same day that it still plans to keep hosting Waymo robotaxis in its own app for as long as the two companies keep agreeing to it.

Mawakana’s remarks confirm earlier Financial Times reporting that Waymo wanted out of its Uber tie-up, a deal that isn’t due to lapse until May 2028. She told Bloomberg that Waymo originally partnered with Uber because the ride-hail company offered scale, but that the rider experience has turned out to be “a little bit of a crapshoot” — particularly because riders in shared markets never know for certain whether they’ll end up hailing a robotaxi or a human-driven car.

Having a direct relationship with riders matters to Waymo, Mawakana said, adding that the company has heard that feedback from riders in the Austin and Atlanta markets themselves. Uber, which works with a number of other robotaxi and autonomous-vehicle partners, told Bloomberg that it was Waymo’s own decision not to add an in-app option letting Uber users book a robotaxi directly.

Why it matters

The split signals that robotaxi operators increasingly want to own the rider relationship — and the data that comes with it — rather than rent Uber’s demand, a tension other autonomous-vehicle companies weighing ride-hail partnerships will have to navigate as their own fleets scale.