Waymo confirms it will start splitting with Uber in January 2028
- ID
- 43087
- Status
- summarized
- Published
- 05 Nov 2026, 2:12 AM
- Fetched
- 05 Nov 2026, 4:13 AM
- Provider
- TechCrunch
- Category
- technology
- Original URL
- https://techcrunch.com/2026/11/04/waymo-confirms-it-will-start-splitting-with-uber-in-january-2028/
- Source URL
- https://techcrunch.com/feed/
Summary
- Score
- 2.0
- Created
- 05 Nov 2026, 4:14 AM
- Tags
- Audience
- saas_founders
What happened
Waymo co-CEO Tekedra Mawakana told Bloomberg that Waymo will stop offering rides through Uber in Austin and Atlanta starting January 2028, moving riders to Waymo's own app instead; the Uber deal had been set to expire in May 2028. Mawakana said the Uber experience was 'a little bit of a crapshoot' because riders can't be sure they'll get a robotaxi rather than a human-driven car, and that direct rider relationships matter. Uber told TechCrunch it still plans to host Waymo robotaxis on its app for as long as both companies agree, and told Bloomberg that not adding a direct robotaxi booking option in Uber's app was Waymo's idea.
Why it matters
This is a mobility-business story with no direct AI/ML, developer-tooling, or Malaysian angle in the text, so most of this community has nothing to change because of it. The one concrete takeaway: a distribution partner announced its exit roughly 18 months before the contract's May 2028 expiry, which is a reminder to check how much of your customer relationship lives inside someone else's app — if your users can't tell your product apart from the surrounding inventory, expect the platform owner to take the relationship in-house.
Discussion angle
If a partner can announce a pull-out 18 months before your contract ends, what would you want in writing — and would you build a direct-to-user channel before or after that announcement?