Uber, Waymo to expand autonomous ride hailing to Austin, Atlanta

(Reuters) -Uber Technologies said on Friday it would expand its partnership with Alphabet's Waymo to bring ride hailing to Austin, Texas, and Atlanta, Georgia, early next year.

Shares of Uber rose 5%, while Alphabet was up around 2%.

The announcement comes at a critical time for self-driving firms as they face heavy scrutiny from safety regulators over multiple incidents of crashes and accidents involving the technology.

Through the current expansion, Uber will manage and dispatch a fleet of fully autonomous, all-electric Jaguar I-PACE vehicles that "will grow to hundreds" over time, the company said.

Uber announced the initial partnership last year where it would make Waymo's driverless car available to customers in Phoenix, Arizona.

Uber has been steadily building a strategy to partner with electric-vehicle makers and autonomous driving firms to tap into new technologies and fulfill its goal of converting its entire fleet of vehicles to green energy.

Similar to the Waymo partnership, Uber also has a collaboration with General Motors' Cruise where it will offer its self-driving cars on the Uber platform by next year.

Uber sold its own self-driving division in 2020 to reduce cash burn and refocus on its core business, including ride hailing and food delivery.

(Reporting by Zaheer Kachwala in Bengaluru; Editing by Anil D'Silva and Maju Samuel)