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(This message was added in version 6.7.0.) in /home4/scienrds/scienceandnerds/wp-includes/functions.php on line 6114Source:https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/2023\/05\/23\/waymos-self-driving-cars-will-be-available-on-ubers-app-starting-in-phoenix\/<\/a><\/br> Waymo, Alphabet\u2019s self-driving unit, has agreed to a multi-year strategic partnership with Uber that will see some of Waymo\u2019s autonomous vehicle technology join Uber\u2019s platform.<\/p>\n The collaboration comes a few weeks after Waymo\u2019s chief product officer Saswat Panigrahi said the company aims to increase ridership tenfold<\/a> by next summer. By partnering with an existing ride-hail and delivery platform, Waymo could expand its reach and secure new customers beyond those who have already downloaded the company\u2019s branded Waymo One app.<\/p>\n The deal with Uber also strengthens the long-term strategic partnership<\/a> between Waymo Via, Waymo\u2019s autonomous trucking arm, and Uber Freight, Uber\u2019s logistics spinout.<\/p>\n \u201cUber 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,\u201d said Tekedra Mawakana, co-CEO of Waymo, in a statement.<\/p>\n The first phase of the partnership will start later this year in the Metro Phoenix area. Earlier this month, Waymo doubled its service area in the region to 180 square miles, including downtown, the airport<\/a>, Arizona State Universities and other East Valley suburbs.<\/p>\n A \u201cset number\u201d of Waymo vehicles will be integrated into both the Uber and Uber Eats apps to facilitate ride-hail and delivery services, according to a Waymo blog post. However, it\u2019s not clear what portion of Waymo\u2019s overall fleet will be made available to Uber. Waymo currently operates \u201ca couple hundred\u201d self-driving cars in each of its Waymo One service areas, limited to Phoenix and San Francisco<\/a>, with testing taking place in Austin and Los Angeles<\/a>. Waymo has clarified that it will not exclusively allocate vehicles to Uber. Instead, when a Waymo vehicle is accessible for a qualifying ride, Uber users will have the option to request a car through the Uber app.<\/p>\n The collaboration with Uber gives Waymo\u2019s self-driving technology a second path to commercialization. As Katherine Barna, head of PR at Waymo, told TechCrunch, Waymo is \u201cbuilding a Driver, not a vehicle.\u201d That \u201cdriver-as-a-service\u201d model is similarly how Waymo intends to commercialize autonomous trucks, and it means that the company can lease out its AV technology, rather than being the owner-operator of that technology.<\/p>\n Cruise, one of Waymo\u2019s biggest competitors, also operates its own app and service, in addition to creating, testing and deploying self-driving technology. The company hasn\u2019t yet announced any plans to partner with ride-hail services, but it wouldn\u2019t be surprising, given how expensive an endeavor building robotaxis is.<\/p>\n One company that\u2019s already been following a similar playbook since the get-go is Motional, the Hyundai-Aptiv joint venture.\u00a0Motional\u2019s route to market<\/a> is based entirely on forming partnerships with existing ride-hail platforms, like Lyft, Via and Uber. Last October, Motional and Uber announced a 10-year operating agreement<\/a> that will place Motional\u2019s autonomous Hyundai IONIQ 5s on Uber\u2019s platform in cities across North America. The two companies launched their first city, Las Vegas<\/a>, in December and plan to launch in Los Angeles next.<\/p>\n Uber, too, has seen the apparent wisdom in partnering with companies that are dedicated to developing autonomous vehicle technology, rather than building the tech itself. The company had previously started its own AV unit in 2015 called Uber ATG, but found it to be not only a loss-generating endeavor<\/a>, but also a brand hazard after one of Uber\u2019s test AVs (with a human operator behind the wheel) hit and killed a pedestrian<\/a>.<\/p>\n Uber\u2019s in-house AV pursuits were further complicated by a lawsuit from Waymo (more on that below), and the company ended up selling off its self-driving unit to Aurora<\/a> in 2020.<\/p>\n Drama aside, integrating AVs into the platform has always been a goal of Uber\u2019s, so it makes sense the company is shopping around for good fits.<\/p>\n \u201cFully autonomous driving is quickly becoming part of everyday life, and we\u2019re excited to bring Waymo\u2019s incredible technology to the Uber platform,\u201d said Dara Khosrowshahi, CEO of Uber, in a statement.<\/p>\n Waymo and Uber have not shared how much a ride in one of Waymo\u2019s AVs would cost. Barna only said that pricing \u201cis determined based on various factors on the Uber platform.\u201d She also noted that Waymo\u2019s Jaguars will be made available across Uber tiers like Uber X, Uber Comfort, Uber Green and Uber Comfort Electric.<\/p>\n Uber and Waymo\u2019s ongoing partnerships suggest that the two companies have come a long way since their high-profile trade secrets lawsuit a few years ago. In February 2017, Waymo filed suit against Uber, claiming that a former Google engineer, Anthony Levandowski, stole more than 14,000 confidential files with Waymo\u2019s trade secrets related to lidar sensors. The lawsuit alleged that Levandowski then used those files to start his own self-driving company called Otto, which was later acquired by Uber.<\/p>\n Uber initially denied any wrongdoing, saying that its own lidar technology was different from Waymo\u2019s and was developed by Uber\u2019s ATG team. The case went to trial in 2018, and the two companies reached a settlement<\/a>. Uber agreed to provide Waymo with 0.34% of its stock, which was about $244 million at the time, and to ensure that its self-driving technology wouldn\u2019t infringe on Waymo\u2019s intellectual property.<\/p>\n While Uber and Waymo both declared intentions to put the ugliness behind them and move on, Levandowski wasn\u2019t so lucky. The former Google engineer was sentenced to 18 months in prison<\/a> in 2020 on one count of stealing trade secrets \u2014 former President Donald Trump ended up pardoning him<\/a>, so he avoided prison time. He was also ordered to pay $179 million<\/a> to Google. Upon declaring personal bankruptcy, Levandowski then filed suit against Uber, claiming that the ride-hail company had agreed to indemnify him against legal action when it bought Otto.<\/p>\n Last year, the engineer reached a settlement with Uber<\/a>, wherein Uber agreed to pay \u201ca substantial portion\u201d of that $179 million to Google, as well as give Levandowski $2 million.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n <\/br><\/br><\/br><\/p>\n
\nWaymo\u2019s self-driving cars will be available on Uber\u2019s app, starting in Phoenix<\/br>
\n2023-05-23 22:32:37<\/br><\/p>\nUber and Waymo putting water under the bridge<\/h2>\n