Is Waymo friend or foe to Uber?

The fast expansion of Waymo’s driverless car service is growing competition for Uber. But the companies are also partners. — ©2025 The New York Times Company

SAN FRANCISCO: In 2020, Uber was at a crossroads: The company had made an expensive bet on robot taxis, but the project was laden with legal problems and burning through cash. So Uber gave it away to another startup.

But five years later, Uber’s future seems as tied to autonomous vehicles as ever. The company is now betting that it can embrace driverless taxis without spending money to build them – at the risk of being overtaken by the companies that do.