Waymo may ditch Uber and go solo

The bromance is wobbling

Alphabet’s Waymo is reportedly thinking about breaking up with Uber, telling the ride-hailing giant it wants to go solo in Austin and Atlanta once the current deal runs out in January 2028. Until then, Uber says it’ll keep offering Waymo rides in those cities through May 2028, because apparently even robotaxi breakups need a transition period.

Why this matters

This isn’t just corporate drama for the group chat. Waymo and Uber have been linked since 2023, and the partnership helped give Waymo a built-in distribution lane while Uber got to dabble in the future without building the cars itself. If Waymo walks, Uber loses some autonomous-vehicle upside and has to keep shopping for another robotaxi buddy.

The real fight is bigger than the app

The report says the two companies are also lobbying for different state rules, which is where things get spicy:

• Uber wants “hybrid networks” that lean heavily on human drivers
• Waymo wants higher permitting costs that could squeeze smaller AV operators

So this is part business breakup, part policy cage match. In Phoenix, the pair already split earlier this year, and Uber has reportedly been looking for a replacement robotaxi partner there.

Big picture

Waymo now says it operates more than 3,800 vehicles across 10 cities, and it has the scale to start acting less like a startup and more like a landlord choosing tenants. For Uber, the question is whether it can stay the default gateway to robotaxis — or whether the future of rides gets fragmented into a bunch of competing walled gardens.