Uber and Waymo Head for a Strategic Split as Global Robotaxi Race Accelerates

This week in the Autonomy Economy, Uber took a major step towards its autonomous future, Waymo is eyeing international expansion, and Boston is considering a ban on autonomous vehicles.

First autonomous vehicles, next Dunkin’? When a city starts banning things for public safety, what’s to stop them from banning everything under the banner of public health?

After all, the average Dunkin’ donut packs about 275 calories. An elected official could easily argue that’s bad for your health and grounds for regulation, even though, let’s be honest, Beantown runs on Dunkin’.

In a Waymo, there are no calories, only code and a quiet confidence that it won’t spill your coffee. In fact, one could argue Waymo is good for your health. Waymos do not get tired, distracted, or drive erratically.

Statistically, you’re more likely to reach your destination safely in a Waymo than with a human behind the wheel. Why? Simple: the phone. Waymo doesn’t text and drive, and it certainly doesn’t eat donuts while driving. Waymo has one mission and one mission only, to get you to and from your destination safely. And its track record? Exceptional.

When politics drive the conversation and outrage takes the wheel, progress stalls at the curb, and that’s exactly what’s happening in Boston. First ban autonomous vehicles, next ban Dunkin’? We’ll forgive distracted drivers but not a donut’s worth of calories.

👔The Road to Autonomy provides market intelligence and strategic advisory services to institutional investors and companies, delivering insights needed to stay ahead of emerging trends in the autonomy economy.

Discover how our market intelligence and strategic advisory services can empower your next move by sending an email to [email protected].

One-Time Briefings • Quarterly Subscriptions • Bespoke Advisory Services

Companies Mentioned: $UBER ( ▲ 0.01% ), $GOOGL ( ▼ 0.1% ) 

WHAT’S MOVING THE MARKETS | AUTONOMOUS VEHICLES

Uber and Waymo Head for a Strategic Split as Global Robotaxi Race Accelerates

The Uber–Waymo partnership is evolving into strategic separation. What began as a pragmatic collaboration is now shifting towards direct competition across the Dallas, London and San Francisco markets.

This week’s announcement that Uber will deploy Lucid–Nuro robotaxis in San Francisco by late 2026 marks a clear inflection point. The company’s $300 million investment in Lucid, and it’s more than $300 million commitment to Nuro, purchase agreements exceeding 20,000 vehicles and its alliance with Nvidia, which targets 100,000 autonomous vehicles globally by 2027, all signal a structural shift. Uber is moving from platform dependency to asset ownership.

The question is no longer whether the two will compete, but which business model will prevail and whether Uber’s ride-demand thesis proves correct. The next 18 months will test whether value accrues to proprietary technology or distribution scale. Three markets illustrate the strategy.

In Dallas, Uber will deploy Avride robotaxis while Waymo partners with Avis for fleet management, perhaps marking the first market where both companies will operate independently. Dallas serves as the opening test case, offering lighter regulation and greater operational flexibility before higher-stakes markets come online.

In London, Uber will launch with Wayve while Waymo partners with Moove for fleet management, their first international head-to-head contest, one that could eventually be followed by Tokyo. And next year in San Francisco, Uber’s Lucid–Nuro vehicles will begin service in Waymo’s home market, arguably the most important robotaxi market in the world.

Are Los Angeles and Miami next? It appears only a matter of time before Uber and Waymo go head-to-head in the largest rideshare markets globally. When that happens and the gloves come off, what becomes of the co-deployments in Austin and Atlanta?

Will those vehicles revert to Waymo and become exclusive Waymo markets, or remain joint Uber–Waymo operations for the foreseeable future?

By late 2026, empirical data from these three markets will begin to reveal which thesis is correct. The separation is no longer speculative, it is scheduled. Late 2026 is when collaboration ends and competition begins.

Our take: 2026 is shaping up to be one of the most important years in the robotaxi market.

Companies Mentioned: $UBER ( ▲ 0.01% ), $GOOGL ( ▼ 0.1% ) 

Uber is currently ranked #1 with a bullish outlook on the AUTONOMY LEADERBOARD in the software platforms vehicle category.

ADVOCATING FOR THE AUTONOMY ECONOMY | SPONSORED

Automation and autonomy will strengthen the economy, create jobs, and reduce inflation. Council for Economic Resilience is dedicated to promoting the future of autonomy and automation for the benefit of the American public.

Council for Economic Resilience, Inc. is a 501(c)4 Advocacy Group

PIQUING OUR INTEREST

Waymo is Looking to Expand to Australia Waymo is in discussions with Australian regulators as the company explores expanding their robotaxi operations to the Land Down Under.

Waymo Eyes Expansion to The Great White North Waymo is on an international expansion roll and Canada may be next. The company has hired lobbyists to pursue regulatory changes that would allow commercial robotaxi operations to scale across the country.

Another Street Gathering, Another Waymo Vandalism After the Dodgers won the World Series, Angelenos took to the streets to celebrate and unsurprisingly, a few Waymo vehicles were vandalized.

Tesla Expands Austin Robotaxi Service Area This week Tesla expanded their Austin robotaxi service area to 245 square miles.

First Robotaxis, Next Personally Owned Autonomous Vehicles Lucid continues the company’s embracement of autonomy, announcing plans this week to develop personally owned autonomous vehicles powered by NVIDIA Drive AV.

Boston Looks to Ban Autonomous Vehicles In a seemingly coordinated effort, Boston is on the verge of banning autonomous vehicles.

Uber is Planning to Invest in Pony.ai and WeRide Hong Kong IPOs Uber is poised to continue their autonomous vehicle investments with their planned investments in Pony.ai and WeRide’s upcoming Hong Kong IPOs.

Aurora Embraces Upfitting In what could be seen as a strategic pivot or simply a smart business move, Aurora has embraced vehicle upfitting, ordering International Trucks that it plans to upfit and deploy into commercial operations without a safety attendant by Q2 2026.

Pony.ai Granted Shenzhen Commercial Robotaxi Permit Pony.ai has been granted a permit to deploy commercial robotaxis in Shenzhen, China.

Baidu Expands Robotaxi Operations in Hong Kong This month Baudi will begin operating an autonomous vehicle service on the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge.

📰 Before these stories were featured here, they were available on X. Follow @RoadToAutonomy today to stay up-to-date on the latest news and developments shaping the autonomy economy.

SOCIAL BUZZ | AUTONOMOUS VEHICLES

The Future is Autonomous

The Future is Autonomous. The Future is Bright. The Future is Robotaxi.

Our take: Thanks for highlighting part of our tagline, Tesla!

Tesla is currently ranked #1 with a bullish outlook on the AUTONOMY LEADERBOARD in the personally owned autonomous vehicle category.

Companies Mentioned: $TSLA ( ▲ 3.74% ) 

THE ROAD TO AUTONOMY PODCAST

GM’s Return to Autonomy

(October 28, 2025) David Welch, Detroit Bureau Chief, Bloomberg joined Grayson Brulte on The Road to Autonomy podcast to discuss GM’s return to autonomy and the company’s long-term strategy for personally owned autonomous vehicles.

Watch on YouTube | Spotify | X

Companies Mentioned: $GM ( ▲ 0.61% ) 

AUTONOMY MARKETS PODCAST

NVIDIA’s Autonomy Ambitions Become Clearer as Waymo and Uber Head for Divorce

(November 1, 2025) This week on Autonomy Markets, Grayson Brulte and Walter Piecyk discuss NVIDIA’s ever expanding autonomy ambitions and the fracturing relationship between Waymo and Uber, which may signal the end of one of the industry’s most-watched partnerships.

Watch on YouTube | Spotify | X

Companies Mentioned: $NVDA ( ▼ 0.2% ), $GOOGL ( ▼ 0.1% ), $UBER ( ▲ 0.01% ) 

Autonomy Economy Market Intelligence

Now that you have read an issue of This Week in the Autonomy Economy, discover how The Road to Autonomy's institutional-grade market intelligence platform can help you cut through the media hype cycles and provide you with ongoing actionable intelligence based on technical reality and commercial viability.

Send an email to [email protected] to go beyond the headlines and access the strategic intelligence your institution needs to navigate the autonomy economy.

One-Time Briefings • Quarterly Subscriptions • Bespoke Advisory Services