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SAN FRANCISCO – Google's auto spin-off, Waymo, is partnering with Lyft, Arizona, to try to lure passengers away from the market leader, Uber.
The alliance said on Tuesday that anyone with the Lyft app in the Phoenix area could call one of 10 standalone Waymo cars that will join the call service at the end of September.
Waymo's robotic vehicles will always have a human behind the wheel to take control in the event of a technical problem. However, their use in the service of Lyft could encourage more people to drive to self-driving.
Lyft and Uber both consider that autonomous cars are one of the keys to generating profits, which no company has yet realized. At the same time, Waymo has slowly expanded its own operator service in the Phoenix area, which has so far been reserved only for passengers who have previously participated in free tests of its autopilot technology.
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"We are committed to continually improving our customer experience and our partnership with Lyft will also give our teams the opportunity to gather valuable feedback," Waymo CEO John Krafcik said in a blog post.
Lyft Chairman John Zimmer described the Waymo partnership as "phenomenal" at a conference call on Tuesday. Uber has not responded to a request for comment.
The new threat to Uber comes as the San Francisco company makes an initial public offering worth $ 9 billion at the end of the transaction this week. Lyft raised more than $ 2 billion during his own IPO in March, but his shares fell by almost 20% compared to the offer price, while his ability to make money was disturbing – a challenge magnified by the additional loss of $ 1.1 billion in the three months of the year.
Alphabet Inc., the parent company of Waymo, is expected to be among the biggest winners of Uber's IPO, just like at the time of the Lyft IPO. Alphabet holds a 5% stake in Uber, worth up to $ 3.6 billion if Uber achieves its target of selling $ 50 per share. It also holds a 5% interest in Lyft, valued at $ 761 million.
Despite their financial ties, Waymo and Uber have had an acrimonious relationship since they got entangled in a thorny case of alleged high-tech theft.
Waymo accused Uber of orchestrating a scheme to steal some of his autonomous driving technology. This took place after former Uber CEO, Travis Kalanick, began to suspect that Waymo was planning to use his autonomous cars in a competing service.
Both parties settled the dispute last year under an agreement requiring Uber to provide Alphabet with another stock of shares worth $ 245 million at the time of writing. the conclusion of the truce.
The agreement also requires Uber to submit to the criticism of a software expert to ensure that it does not abuse Waymo's technology in order to build its own autonomous cars, a process that has recently led to uncover potentially "problematic" problems. disclosed in connection with the IPO of Uber. Uber warned that the problems could force him to pay a license fee to Waymo or delay his efforts to introduce autonomous cars to his service.
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