Waymo Pulls Out of Uber's App in Phoenix After Three Years as Both Companies Go Their Own Way

Waymo and Uber have ended their Phoenix robotaxi collaboration, the companies confirmed to TechCrunch on Monday, dissolving a partnership that once served as the flagship test of whether the two former rivals could work together on autonomous vehicles.

Waymo's vehicles disappeared from Uber's app in Phoenix in May, though the breakup went largely unnoticed until riders flagged the absence. The split is amicable: both companies described the three-year pilot as productive, and Waymo's Phoenix fleet continues operating through its own app, now folded into Waymo's broader network of more than 500,000 weekly trips across 11 U.S. cities.

Why the Partnership Ended

The Phoenix deployment was always small by design — Uber described it as limited to "just over a dozen vehicles" at its peak, a far cry from the scale of Waymo's own commercial operation in the city. The collaboration was a first step, not a full deployment: it helped Waymo test how its fleet integrated with a ride-hailing app at low volume before the company expanded aggressively on its own terms.

For Uber, Phoenix was a learning exercise in what an AV partnership could look like. The company has since found more traction with Waymo in Austin and Atlanta, where Waymo robotaxis are available exclusively through Uber's platform — a very different arrangement from Phoenix's limited pilot. Those partnerships remain intact.

What Each Company Does Next

Waymo is moving fast on its own. The company launched in approximately 20 new cities this year and is deploying its new Zeekr-made Ojai van alongside its existing Jaguar I-PACE fleet. The vehicles pulled from the Uber network in Phoenix are already serving Waymo riders through the Waymo One app, including public transit integrations with Via and delivery trips through DoorDash.

Uber, meanwhile, disclosed it is preparing "a separate autonomous vehicle partnership in the city" — but declined to name the new partner. Bloomberg reported the unnamed company is expected to be announced shortly. The field of potential partners is significant: Zoox (owned by Amazon), May Mobility, and Mobileye's Moovit have all been expanding commercial robotaxi operations in 2026.

The Bigger Picture for Robotaxis

The quiet dissolution of the Phoenix pilot illustrates how quickly the robotaxi landscape has matured. When Waymo and Uber launched their partnership in 2023, it represented a truce between bitter rivals — Uber had previously acquired Otto and faced accusations of stealing Waymo's autonomous driving technology before settling for $245 million in 2018. Three years later, Waymo has enough scale to pursue its own app rather than depending on Uber's distribution, and Uber has enough AV options that losing one partner in one city barely registers.

Waymo's 500,000 weekly trips represent a substantial commercial business; the company's most recent fundraising valued it above $45 billion. As reported by TechCrunch and Bloomberg, both companies confirmed the end of the Phoenix arrangement on June 29, 2026.