Waymo teams up with companies to offer autonomous rides to customers

Brendan McDermid | Reuters

Waymo unveils a self-driving Chrysler Pacifica minivan in Detroit, Michigan, U.S. on January 8, 2017.

Waymo, the Alphabet company that spun out of Google’s former self-driving car division, is partnering with some of the country’s largest companies to expand how many people ride in its self-driving vehicles.

The partnerships with five companies, including Walmart, Autonation and Avis, will feature Waymo autonomous vehicles picking up customers and driving them to various locations in the Phoenix area. In some cases, customers will be offered savings or deals in order to be shuttled around in Waymo vehicles.

“We’ve tailored our partnerships to meet the top rider needs; in fact, the partnerships below represent eight of the top ten activities our riders do when they get in a Waymo,” the company wrote in a blog post announcing the partnerships.

Here are the company specific rides Waymo will be providing customers:

• Walmart: Customers will be offered savings to place orders for groceries on Walmart.com. As the order are being prepared at a local store in the Phoenix area, Waymo vehicles will transport customers to and from Walmart to pick up their groceries.
• AutoNation: As customers are having vehicles serviced at AutoNation dealerships, they will be offer rIdes in a Waymo, rather than a loaner car.
• Avis: Waymo vehicles will drop off and pick up rental car customers at two locations in the Phoenix suburb of Chandler.
• DDR Corp.: The company which operates the Ahwatukee Foothills Towne Center in Chandler, will offer shoppers and diners rides in Waymo self-driving vehicles.
• Element Hotel: Select guests of the hotel in Chandler will have access to Waymo vehicles to use local trips.

The Waymo rides to certain Walmarts in Arizona will start later this week while the other ride offers will begin over the course of the next several weeks.

Initially, the deals will be restricted to about 400 people in the Phoenix area who are part of Waymo’s early rider test program. Some or all of the cost of the rides will be picked up by the companies partnering with Waymo.

It remains to be seen how much Waymo will charge riders when it launches its autonomous ride share service in Arizona later this year.