Waymo will book robotaxi rides in its own app in Austin and Atlanta from January 2028

Waymo will stop booking robotaxi rides through Uber in Austin and Atlanta and move riders to its own app in January 2028, according to co-CEO Tekedra Mawakana. She confirmed the plan to Bloomberg on Nov. 4, after months of reports that the Alphabet-owned company wanted out of the arrangement. Uber says its app will keep Waymo vehicles for as long as both companies agree.

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Mawakana’s confirmation and the January 2028 start

TechCrunch’s Sean O’Kane reported that Mawakana described the Uber-only setup as “a little bit of a crapshoot” for riders, who cannot know whether the car that arrives will be a robotaxi or one with a human driver. She said Waymo partnered with Uber at first for its scale, that a direct relationship with riders matters, and that riders in those two markets had told Waymo as much. After the split, Waymo will offer rides through its own app, as it already does in other cities.

Uber told TechCrunch it still plans to host Waymo robotaxis on its app for as long as both sides agree. Waymo did not immediately respond to a request for comment, and the story was updated after Uber’s statement came in. The TechCrunch report is the account of the confirmation, and Bloomberg’s original interview sits behind a block that stopped it from being read, so Mawakana’s remarks here come through TechCrunch.

Uber’s contract runs four months longer, to May 2028

The January 2028 date is not the end of the contract. The Next Web, reporting in late July after Uber confirmed Waymo’s notice to CNBC and Bloomberg, said riders would see no immediate change and that the existing contract keeps Waymo’s current fleet on the Uber app through at least May 2028. An S&P Global Mobility note from July 27 quotes Uber as saying it will offer services in those cities until May 2028.

TechCrunch’s Uber deal tracker says the contract does not end until May 2028 and that Waymo is trying to exit it early, which fits the gap between a January 2028 own-app start and a May 2028 contract end.

How Waymo reached Austin and Atlanta through Uber

The Uber route was the plan from the start. When the companies announced the expansion on Sept. 13, 2024, Waymo’s own announcement said Waymo One would be available in Austin and Atlanta only through the Uber app, with Uber managing a fleet of all-electric Jaguar SUVs that would grow to hundreds. Uber was to handle cleaning, repairs and depot work, while Waymo stayed responsible for driving the vehicles and roadside assistance.

At that launch Mawakana said Waymo’s mission is to be the world’s most trusted driver, and Uber chief executive Dara Khosrowshahi said riders in Austin and Atlanta would soon be able to experience the same mobility magic. According to TechCrunch’s tracker, the Austin service launched in March 2025 and Atlanta followed in June 2025. The partnership had begun in Phoenix in May 2023, and the tracker says it ended there in July 2026.

Uber’s complaints and Waymo’s scale without it

The Next Web, citing Bloomberg, reported that Uber had raised concerns about economics, safety problems and Waymo’s reluctance to be forthcoming about incidents, among them robotaxis entering flooded roads despite a software recall and illegally passing school buses in Austin. Waymo blamed an Atlanta episode in May, in which dozens of empty vehicles circled a cul-de-sac, on Uber’s routing. Uber told Bloomberg that Waymo chose not to add an option inside the Uber app to book a robotaxi directly.

Waymo, by the same report, operates in 11 U.S. metro areas without Uber and delivers more than 500,000 paid rides a week. Uber shares fell more than 4 percent on the July news to close below $66. Uber has invested in Avride and Nuro and has a deal worth more than $1 billion for up to 50,000 Rivian-built robotaxis, though none of those partners matches Waymo’s scale.

The Next Web adds that Waymo has not announced a new Uber city since its Atlanta launch the previous June, and has instead expanded through its own app into six more markets. Lyft’s chief executive, David Risher, called his own company’s Waymo deal a “situationship” in November 2025, the same piece notes, a sign that other ride-hail partners were already weighing how durable such arrangements are. The original arrangement, which the two companies announced in September 2024, made the Uber app the only way for riders in Austin and Atlanta to hail a Waymo. Uber said the change would let it bring other autonomous vehicle providers onto its platform in Austin and Atlanta.

What remains open is how riders will find Waymo on the day the split begins: Mawakana’s January 2028 date holds for Austin and Atlanta, while Uber’s May 2028 contract end sits four months behind it.

This article was produced with the assistance of AI and reviewed by Morning Overview editors prior to publication.

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