Uber & Waymo End Self-Driving Truck Feud And Are Working Together Now
After a messy battle in court between Alphabet’s Waymo and Uber, which saw a settlement of US$245 million in Waymo’s favor, the companies have decided to put their differences aside to develop self-driving trucks. Understanding that they are stronger together, Waymo announced a long-term agreement with Uber in the hopes of capitalizing on each other’s strengths.
The partnership will include Waymo trucks being deployed through Uber Freight, a subsidiary of Uber that matches businesses with trucks for shipping goods—therefore marrying Waymo’s self-driving technology with Uber’s market share and platform.
The companies intend to use self-driving trucks for long-haul purposes, while ones driven by humans will take shorter journeys. They have also banded together to further develop the transferring of goods between self-driven and regular trucks.
The lawsuit that brought about this rift between the companies involved an employee of Waymo who allegedly stole thousands of private information from the company to set up his own self-driving trucking service, Otto, which Uber eventually acquired. Besides the monetary settlement, the ex-employee was sentenced to 18 months in jail. In 2021, President Donald Trump pardoned his sentence.
Somehow, through all of the fighting, the two companies have emerged on the other side for the greater good. As self-driving trucks evolve to take on more roles, they will continuously change the landscape of businesses.
