Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi has dismissed speculation that the company's partnership with Waymo is collapsing, insisting on an earnings call that the relationship remains "very strong" despite recent friction. The reassurance follows the end of the Uber-Waymo partnership in Phoenix earlier this year and comes amid signs of tension, including remarks from Uber's CTO about a "scary Waymo moment" and a divergence in strategy over hybrid human-and-robot ride models versus fully autonomous fleets.

Khosrowshahi confirmed operations will continue in Austin and Atlanta into next year, while stressing that Uber does not want to depend on a single robotaxi partner and is expanding ties with rivals such as Zoox, Wayve, Avride, Nuro, Motional and Waabi, backed by a pledge to invest over $10 billion in its robotaxi business. He also downplayed the current scale of the technology, noting robotaxi rides make up less than 0.5% of Uber's total trip volume, and suggested "physical AI" is advancing more slowly than large language models, giving Uber time to build a broader competitive network of partners.