Uber and Cruise announced that next year Uber customers will be able to hail Cruise autonomous vehicles.
A year ago Waymo was feeling the heat from Cruise, which was launching in lots of different markets. Waymo responded by cutting its trucking business and moving faster to launch in San Francisco and Los Angeles, as well as open up rides to Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport.
A year later, Cruise has fallen behind and Waymo has surged ahead. Now Uber is feeling the heat from Waymo.
Ironically, Uber is addressing this by partnership with Cruise. The irony has levels. Alphabet (the parent of both Google and Waymo) invested in Uber, and then famously sued Uber, and now Uber is partnering with Waymo’s rival. Uber shut down its own autonomous vehicle operation due to safety incidents; similarly, safety incidents brought Cruise’s momentum to a halt. And, of course, now Uber is trying to use Cruise as protection against Waymo, whereas a year ago Cruise looked like it might surpass Waymo.
The world has come so far in a year. And in, along some dimensions, wound up in a similar place.
David Silver 