Driverless Uber Rides Mock Elon Musk’s Tesla In Its Backyard

Need an Uber? How about one without a driver?

Uber and Waymo, who were once embroiled in a lawsuit over self-driving technology, are now partners. I Image: Waymo

Uber riders in Austin, Texas, can now hail a driverless Waymo—from Google’s parent company, Alphabet—for the first time, Alexandra Skores reported for CNN.

Travelers will be able to book rides across 37 square miles in Austin, the backyard of competitor Tesla, and in the Lone Star State, which has long been a testing ground for driverless vehicles.

“We’re true believers in the technology, and personally, I believe autonomous vehicles coming to market is a good thing for the world… we’re happy and genuinely excited to see autonomy coming to market and starting to scale,” said Andrew Macdonald, Uber’s senior vice president of mobility and business operations, in an interview with CNN.

“When you have a supportive city, when you have a supportive local government, it encourages competition, it encourages innovation, and that ends up being a good thing for consumers,” he added.

It appears there’s no bad blood between the two companies.

Uber and Waymo, who were once embroiled in a lawsuit over self-driving technology, are now partners.

“Our partnership with Uber in Austin is an exciting step toward further scaling our safe, convenient, and sustainable autonomous technology,” said Nicole Gavel, Waymo’s head of business development and strategic partnerships, in a statement.