Alphabet's Waymo is considering ending its robotaxi partnership with Uber and running independently in Austin and Atlanta from January 2028, when the current contract permits an exit, the Financial Times reported on Friday, July 24, 2026. Uber's shares closed down 4.3% on the news, wiping out billions in market value as investors weighed the loss of Waymo's autonomous ride supply on the world's largest mobility platform.
A Souring Alliance
The two companies first partnered in 2023 to place Waymo robotaxis on Uber's ride-hailing app, and today Uber remains the exclusive booking channel for Waymo vehicles in Austin and Atlanta. According to the FT, internal Waymo discussions have focused on ending that arrangement as the companies increasingly clash over operational and commercial issues. Waymo has raised concerns about the cleanliness and routing of its vehicles on Uber's network, while Uber has criticized the sudden unavailability of Waymo cars during bad weather and argued that the deal has "unsustainable financial terms." A person familiar with the matter told the FT the companies are "pursuing diverging objectives."
Phoenix Was The First Break
Late in June 2026, Waymo and Uber quietly wound down their self-driving partnership in Phoenix, Arizona, where Waymo pioneered fully driverless commercial rides. That separation is now being viewed as a template for what could happen in Austin and Atlanta, the two remaining Uber-only markets for Waymo. Waymo has invested heavily in its standalone Waymo One app in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Phoenix and Silicon Valley, and the FT report suggests the company sees the same direct-to-rider model as the future of its business in every launch market.
Impact On The Robotaxi Race
An untethered Waymo puts the robotaxi giant into head-to-head competition with Uber's own autonomous ambitions, which include partnerships with Lucid, Nuro, Wayve and Chinese players such as Momenta. It also complicates Uber's storyline that it is the neutral aggregator platform for all robotaxi supply. Analysts see the split as inevitable as Alphabet accelerates city launches: Waymo announced a four-city expansion in June and has been racing to Denver, Miami, Nashville and Seattle. For readers following the shakeout, our earlier coverage of Waymo's four-city rollout, Uber's autonomy strategy shifts and Waymo One's growth provide additional context.
Reporting based on coverage from the Financial Times (via Reuters/WHBL), Bloomberg and Seeking Alpha.