Former rivals Uber Technologies Inc. and Alphabet Inc.’s Waymo LLC have signed a long-term, strategic partnership to bring autonomous trucking solutions to market.

Announced today, the deal brings together Waymo Driver and Uber Freight in a bid to enable the safe and scalable implementation of Waymo Driver on U.S. roads. As part of the agreement, the Waymo Via autonomous solution will be connected directly to the Uber Freight platform for shippers to tap into.

According to the Waymo team, the partnership will begin with trucks in Waymo Via’s test fleet. Later on, carriers that purchase trucks equipped with Waymo Driver will be able to opt into Uber Freight and deploy their assets on the network.

Waymo Driver offers Level 4 autonomy in trucks. At level 4, the trucks still require a human operator, whether in the vehicle or remotely, but operate autonomously in some situations. As IEEE noted last year, both Level 4 and Level 5 autonomy can be called “fully autonomous,” but the level of autonomy is more nuanced. Where there is no safety driver in the vehicle, a Waymo team is on remote standby to provide high-level guidance if a vehicle finds itself in a novel or ambiguous situation.

Waymo Via is Waymo’s delivery division. The company is currently testing Class 8 heavy-duty trucks operated by Waymo Driver in California, Arizona, Texas and New Mexico. Waymo Via is also testing local delivery using Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid minivans in Arizona.

“Uber Freight’s network of shippers, carriers, and marketplace technology is a great match for the Waymo Driver,” Charlie Jatt, head of commercialization for trucking, Waymo Via, said. “Through this partnership, we can empower carriers to fully utilize their investments in the Waymo Via solution through Uber Freight and create a great experience for shippers, while keeping our focus on developing the core Driver technology.”

That Uber and Waymo are now partners is an interesting twist given the history between the two companies.

In 2017, Waymo accused Uber of stealing its technology after it discovered that Uber’s self-driving car project used “highly specialized” lidar technology that was identical to its own. The technology had come to Uber after it had acquired self-driving truck startup Otto for $680 million in 2016. Otto was founded by former Google engineer Anthony Levandowski.

Waymo accused Levandowski of downloading more than 14,000 confidential design files, including the design for Waymo’s lidar. Uber eventually settled the case with Waymo for $245 million in 2018 and Levandowski was sentenced to 18 months in prison for trade secret theft in 2020, although President Donald Trump later pardoned him.

Uber later quit attempting to develop self-driving cars, selling its autonomous vehicle unit to Amazon.com Inc.-backed Aurora Innovation Inc. for $4 billion in December 2020.

Photo: Waymo Via