Uber Now Lets You Hail Robotaxis in Austin. Plus, Other Cities Where You Can Catch a Ride With Waymo

Self-driving cars are slowly becoming less dystopian and more real-world as companies like Waymo -- the driverless arm of Google parent company Alphabet -- expand into more cities. And on Tuesday, the company launched its partnership with Uber in Austin, Texas, so users can hail a robotaxi right from the rideshare app. Users can now take a driverless ride across 37 square miles of the city, with plans for future expansions. Waymo currently operates fully autonomous rides for the general public in San Francisco, Phoenix and Los Angeles via the Waymo One app. In Phoenix, passengers can also summon a ride through the Uber app. Waymo and Uber plan to expand their partnership again in Atlanta later this year. Waymo will also be testing with manually driven vehicles in 10 new cities this year, starting with Las Vegas and San Diego. The autonomous rides take place aboard the all-electric Jaguar I-Pace, but in October, Waymo announced it's partnering with Hyundai to bring the next generatio ... Read full article.