Uber Technologies Inc. will soon expand the range of services provided to customers, adding the ability to make a trip in vehicles equipped with an autonomous driving system.

Source: motionarray.com

The new service will appear as part of the company’s partnership program with Waymo from Alphabet Inc. Uber made a statement about the imminent appearance of the possibility of using self-driving cars last Tuesday, May 23. This solution of the company will significantly expand the use of vehicles with autonomous driving systems in the medium term.

By the end of this year, the process of transporting passengers and delivering goods by unmanned vehicles will be launched in some areas of Arizona. The cars will be equipped with autonomous driving technology developed by Waymo specialists. The service area will be limited to an area of 180 square miles in the Greater Phoenix area. It is in this area that Waymo operates.

Uber Chief Executive Dara Khosrowshahi says that fully autonomous driving is rapidly approaching the category of an ordinary technical phenomenon in the space of everyday human existence.

Customers will be able to request Waymo services through Uber’s taxi and delivery apps.

Tequedra Mavacana, co-CEO of Waymo, says that Uber has been a leader in ride-sharing for a long period of time, a practice that combines traditional human vehicle management and innovative technology of other different ways of driving. He also noted that within the framework of partnership relations, his company will be able to combine its fully electric fleet with the customer base of the other side of the cooperation.

A new level of partnership brings together firms that some time ago were in a state of dispute over the technology that became the basis of a new deal. Uber had plans to create its own autonomous driving technology but was accused by Waymo of stealing relevant developments.

In 2018, Uber agreed to pay the other side of the dispute $245 million in shares as a measure to resolve the situation. The lawsuit was fully settled in February last year. Since then, the companies have deepened their cooperation. In June 2022, the firms announced a new partner project in the field of autonomous cargo transportation. This collaboration program will allow more users to become familiar with Waymo technology as the Google subsidiary ramps up efforts to create a viable business.

As we have reported earlier, Uber Expands Robotic Delivery to Lower Cost.