Uber, Waymo begin offering robotaxi service in Atlanta

Uber (NYSE:UBER) and Alphabet’s (NASDAQ:GOOG) (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Waymo have begun offering robotaxi rides to the public in Atlanta, marking a further step in their expanding partnership.

Available exclusively through the Uber app, the service spans about 65 square miles in the city, though it currently does not include highway routes or airport trips. The robotaxis use Waymo’s autonomous driving system, the Waymo Driver, installed in electric Jaguar I-PACE SUVs.

The launch follows the companies’ September announcement that they would bring Waymo One to both Atlanta and Austin. Service in Austin began in March, beating Elon Musk’s Tesla to market with its own robotaxi offering.

In both Atlanta and Austin, Waymo rides are only available via the Uber app. In contrast, riders in San Francisco and Los Angeles must use the Waymo One app. The partnership between Waymo and Uber is limited to passenger transport and does not include Uber Eats deliveries.

Uber (NYSE:UBER) gained 3.27% premarket on Tuesday.

Tesla (TSLA), meanwhile, on Sunday began offering paid rides to select customers in South Austin. While limited in scale, the launch marks the first real-world test of the company’s autonomous vehicle technology.

Amazon’s (AMZN) Zoox (ZOOX) is a future competitor to Tesla in the U.S. autonomous driving market. Globally, Baidu (BIDU), WeRide (WRD), and Pony AI (PONY) are other competitors.