Waymo and Lyft Team Up to Bring Robotaxis to Nashville
Uber CEO appeals to Tesla and Elon one more time, Why AVs will not solve congestion, and Moove in talks to raise funding at a $2 billion valuation.
It’s less than a month until our first annual Urban Autonomy Summit, presented by Nexar, on October 8th, at Newlab in Brooklyn. Space is limited, but you can apply to attend here if you’re interested in joining the festivities!
Top Stories of the Week
Lyft and Waymo are partnering to bring robotaxis to Nashville (link). The deal is unique in that Lyft will handle fleet operations (maintenance, charging, and depots) through its Flexdrive subsidiary and rides will eventually be available on both the Waymo and Lyft apps.
This partnership signals Waymo’s continued willingness to work with a wide variety of partners and it also marks six new market announcements without Uber. Lyft’s stock price was up 13% on the news while Uber’s stock was down 4%. Lyft’s Flexdrive subsidiary owns and operates 15,000 vehicles so it’s fair to say that they’re an experienced fleet manager. Uber on the other hand, doesn’t own a single vehicle, and outsources their Waymo fleet duties to Avomo in both Austin and Atlanta.
I like the demand side of this partnership too since it allows Waymo power users to book directly through the Waymo app and get a guaranteed ride/experience/product (one of the main complaints we’ve heard from users in Atlanta and Austin about the ‘Waymo on Uber’ product). But it also opens up Lyft’s larger demand network to Waymo cars, especially during times of lower utilization, and is a great way to introduce AVs to hesitant customers.
Read more about Waymo’s partnerships in my latest article - Waymo’s Master Plan
Fundraising
Nvidia in talks for $500 million investment in UK self-driving start-up Wayve (link).
Related: Check out my earlier TDD podcast episode with Alex Kendall, co-founder and CEO of Wayve (link).
Uber-Backed Moove's Funding Round at $2 Billion Value (link, no paywall).
Cool Rides
‘Absolutely love my morning fishfooding commutes to work 🤍Super grateful for the incredible experience with Waymo – a whole new way to ride!’ (link).
‘How smooth is a Zoox robotaxi ride? So smooth that you can make the perfect matcha while cruising through the Entertainment Capital’ (link).
‘Took a Waymo this morning, call that "Waymorning"’ (link).
AVs/Humans behaving badly
Phone camera PSA (link). Watch out for that lidar..
Vandalized Waymo towed away (link).
Other Stuff
‘Waymo launches a new “My Car” tab, a place for cabin controls (e.g. temperature, fans, audio, etc) as well as preferences’ (link). Hat tip to Jane Wong for finding this earlier (link). I like this product but I’d love to be able to set default options so that when I enter the car, everything is to my liking. And of course, the big thing missing from this is the ability to control the front passenger seat. When I ride solo, I sit in the front and like to move the seat all the way back. But when I sit in the back with a +1, I like to move the front seat all the way forward. First class Waymo :)
‘I want to be clear as possible: I have no issue with autonomous vehicles and welcome them as they clearly reduce traffic deaths, but they will not, and I repeat will not, solve congestion’ (link). I agree with this take, AVs will probably make congestion worse like Uber and Lyft have, but they’re nowhere near the main cause of congestion. Ridehail is usually less than 10% of Vehicle Miles Traveled (VMT) in most large cities, but of course they are an easy scapegoat. And Waymo will be too.
96M miles of Waymo safety data just dropped (link).
Waymo obtains a permit to test robotaxis at San Francisco International Airport (link). Waymo’s airport operations appear to be ramping up — they just announced their second approved airport (SJC) a few weeks ago, after operating in PHX since 2022, and now SFO. They also seem to have other airports like Denver International and Oakland International on their horizon.
A new challenge for emergency workers: Learning how to handle a robotaxi (link, no paywall).
Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi on self-driving's future, changing business model, job displacement (link). I’ve interviewed Dara a few times, and I’m always impressed at his knowledge and recollection of different topics, considering how much he is responsible for at Uber. In this interview at the All In Summit, he explained AV technology better than many experts I’ve heard attempt to do the same. He was also open arms to Tesla again and tried to make the case that Uber is the best place for demand utilization. I'm not sure how compelling or realistic this pitch is anymore though, now that Waymo has announced 6 new markets without Uber.
Dara also brought up an interesting idea around how AV operators can combine first party and third party operations. For top brands like Waymo and Tesla, customers can book a ride on their apps. But during times of low demand, it’s helpful to have an Uber or Lyft to backstop demand. And just a couple days later, Waymo announced this type of partnership with Lyft.
The only issue I took with this interview was his statement that drivers in Austin are making more with Waymo in town. With more supply, you would expect drivers to earn less, and Gridwise’s data backs this up.
Waymo’s patent filing reveals how an AV could be used for guided tours (link). And I guess that’s why this tour operator got served a cease-and-desist letter by Waymo (link, no paywall). I do think it’s smart for cities like LA and SF to embrace AVs though since they are a massive tourist draw. Eventually, they’ll have to deal with the negative externalities of too many AVs but for now, it’s all gravy.
A self-driving car traffic jam is coming for US cities (link, no paywall).
What’s A Tesla Robotaxi Like In New York City? I Tried Full Self-Driving To Find Out (link).
Waymo Involved, Apparently Not At Fault, In Motorcycle Fatality (link, no paywall). It would be nice to see the footage from this incident as it’s difficult for me to understand what happened here from just the description alone.
Uber Eats will soon launch US drone delivery in partnership with Flytrex (link). I think autonomous sidewalk delivery vehicles have a lot of potential since they can cut the cost of delivery in half. But the unique thing about autonomous drone delivery, is that it has the potential to also expand the delivery radius. Here’s what Uber’s president of autonomous mobility and delivery, Sarfraz Maredia, had to say:
Autonomous technology is transforming mobility and delivery faster than ever before. With Flytrex, we’re entering the next chapter—bringing the speed and sustainability of drone delivery to the Uber Eats platform, at scale, for the first time.
Very few of Waymo’s most serious crashes were Waymo’s fault (link).
Via, Waymo Team Up to Bring Robotaxis to Public Transit Systems (link, no paywall). Not a lot of information on this partnership but I’m skeptical of any public transportation pilot that involves ‘Uber-like services’. Rideshare has not proven to be complementary to public transit except for limited use cases. If anything, I think AVs will pull more riders from public transit than Uber ever did, since in theory, the cost will be so low, that fares will actually compete with public transportation.
‘Until recently, I had never seen an autonomous vehicle charging hub up close. Then I had a chance to stop by the site that Terawatt operates for Waymo in LA’ (link).
What else we're reading/listening to
The Future of Shared Robotaxi Rides, with James Cox (link). My latest podcast episode is with James Cox, Ex Uber Pool Exec, and CEO at The Routing Company, a startup that’s transforming transit with routing and optimization software. We discussed the future of AV ridepooling, James’ time at Uber Pool, and how the lessons learned there could be applied to AVs. We also talk about The Routing Company’s recent technology license agreement to Zoox, and what is needed to be successful in the AV ridepooling space, among many other things.
Waymo’s Master Plan (link). This article has been updated from the original version I published back in October 2024 and includes the latest Waymo x Lyft partnership news in Nashville.
Neat Jobs
Technical Project Manager, Autopilot Operations at Tesla (link) via Courtney Kenyon-Kolstad.
Community and Public Affairs Specialist at Waymo (link) via Amanda Ventura.
Internship, Technical Program Manager, Vehicle Engineering (Winter/Spring 2026) at Tesla (link) via Selina T.
Head of Security Operations & Technology at Waymo (link) via Marisa E. Williams.
Shout-outs
Big thanks to TDD readers Masoud A, and Joseph B for referring new subscribers. If there's someone you think would enjoy TDD, just forward this email to them or use the referral button below.
-Harry
Great read as always!
Call me idealistic but if transit agencies learn from what happened with rideshare, I think there’s a genuine opportunity for AVs to be complementary to transit (in the long term at least).
Partnerships like those with Via will hopefully allow pooled AV rides as those users have already opted-in to sharing with others. Jaguar I-Pace is not the right form factor for that though.
Also if agencies work more directly with AV providers / ridehail platforms, they could encourage / subsidise use of AVs for first/last-mile connections to transit through smarter journey planning (e.g, if connecting to a train would be quicker than sitting in traffic) and bundled pricing.
The key is to not treat AVs as the enemy, but rather collaborate and try factor them into transit planning decisions early. It’s a long game though!