Uber Technologies Inc. and Alphabet Inc.’s Waymo LLC today announced a new multiyear strategic partnership to enhance access to autonomous vehicles.

Starting in Phoenix, Arizona, the collaboration will see Waymo’s autonomous driving technology, known as Waymo Driver, integrated into the Uber platform. Phoenix is one of two locations where Waymo is testing autonomous ride-hailing services, services in which autonomous vehicles can operate without a safety driver behind the wheel.

The partnership will allow Uber users to experience Waymo’s autonomous vehicles for ride-hailing trips and local deliveries through the Uber and Uber Eats apps. The ability for Uber users to access Waymo vehicles will be on top of the Waymo One app, which will remain an option for users preferring to book directly.

The partnership is being pitched as combining the best of both companies — Waymo’s autonomous driving technology and Uber’s ride-hailing and delivery networks — to make autonomous, electric vehicle travel widely accessible.

“Uber has long been a leader in human-operated ride-sharing and the pairing of our pioneering technology and all-electric fleet with their customer network provides Waymo with an opportunity to reach even more people,” Tekedra Mawakana, co-chief executive officer of Waymo, said in a statement.

The new partnership is not the first between the two companies, with both having previously announced a strategic alliance to bring autonomous trucking solutions to market in June 2022. The deal brought together Waymo Driver and Uber Freight to enable the implementation of Waymo Driver on U.S. roads, with the Waymo Via autonomous solution connected directly to the Uber Freight platform for shippers to tap into.

That the companies play nicely with each other in 2022 and 2023 is in stark contrast to years gone by, when Waymo accused Uber of stealing its technology after it discovered that Uber’s self-driving car project used highly specialized lidar technology identical to its own. The technology came to Uber after it had acquired self-driving truck startup Otto, founded by former Waymo engineer Anthony Levandowski, for $680 million in 2016.

Uber eventually settled the case with Waymo for $245 million in 2018. Levandowski was sentenced to 18 months in prison for trade secret theft in 2020 before being pardoned by outgoing President Donald Trump in January 2021.

Photo: Waymo