Uber Wants Thousands Of Robotaxis By 2027. Waymo Is Already There

Uber has racked up a ton of autonomous vehicle partnerships, attempting to position itself as the key platform for driverless rides. And the company has no plans to slow down, according to executive comments on its earnings call on Tuesday. Uber says it wants to spend $10 billion to get 2,000 robotaxis into its global fleet by the end of 2027.

“Our focus on autonomous is now on commercial execution," said Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi, per The Times. "The next phase is about delivering the results that demonstrate Uber’s advantage as a platform for commercializing AVs [autonomous vehicles] at scale.”

Around half of those 2,000 robotaxis will apparently be for the United States market. The other half will be split up between Europe, Asia, and the Middle East. The self-driving fleet is planned to populate about 20 different cities worldwide. The goal is 2,000 robotaxis by the end of 2027, with 700 of those online by the end of this year.

Photo by: Waymo

Here's the kicker, though: even if Uber hits its goal by 2027, it will still be far behind Waymo, which is both a major competitor and, for now, a partner. Waymo, the most prominent robotaxi company in the world, already has a fleet of around 4,000 cars currently on the road, and it currently operates in 15 different U.S. cities.

Waymo also wants to double its robotaxi count to 8,000 by the end of the year. And while users in cities like Atlanta have to use the Uber app to call a Waymo robotaxi, the two companies could be heading for a split soon.

The Financial Times reported that the two companies are having internal disagreements about robotaxis and are discussing ending their current contract. A Waymo executive even said that the partnership was “a little bit of a crapshoot,” per Bloomberg, since Uber customers never knew if they were getting a robotaxi or a human driver. The company says it plans to end its exclusive deal with Uber in Austin and Atlanta in January of 2028. So, while both companies are successful, Waymo should have four times the number of robotaxis by the end of 2026 than what Uber will have by December 2027. By then, Waymo plans to have a fleet 20,000-deep.

Uber said it eventually wants a fleet of 120,000 robotaxis, per the Financial Times, but didn't put a timeframe on such a lofty goal. It says it's going to fund this fleet of robotaxis with its own earnings, but that it might have to “bring in third-party capital," once its self-driving fleet expands beyond 10,000 cars. Uber claims its gross bookings were up 20 percent, year-over-year, to the tune of $59.8 billion, so it's got a big book of business to fund its future projects. But with it splitting from Waymo, it's never been more important for the company to get its other partnership projects off the ground and expand them quickly. 

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