Uber Adds Air Taxi Bookings as Wayve Nets $1.2B, Hosts Waymo Robotaxis
Tesla’s Austin robotaxis cost half of Waymo’s but faced 25% unavailability, longer routes and required safety drivers, with 14 crashes reported since mid-2025, while Waymo rides matched UberX fares and remained exclusive to Uber’s app. Wayve raised $1.2 billion in Series D for AV rollout and Uber added air taxi bookings.
1. Tesla Robotaxi Performance in Austin
Analysts found Tesla’s Austin robotaxis were offered at half the price of Waymo but experienced a 25% no-availability rate, longer trip times due to suboptimal routing and required safety drivers for 13% of rides. The service has logged 14 reported crashes since its mid-2025 launch, raising questions about operational reliability.
2. Wayve’s $1.2B Series D Funding
UK-based autonomous driving startup Wayve secured $1.2 billion in Series D financing to accelerate development and global deployment of its AV technology, positioning it as a potential competitor or partner in the robotaxi ecosystem.
3. Uber Launches Air Taxi Bookings
Uber expanded its multimodal transport offerings by integrating electric air taxi bookings into its app, enabling users to reserve short-haul flights and enhancing its push into urban air mobility.