The price gap between Waymo and Uber is narrowing

A Waymo robotaxi ride remains more expensive, on average, than a similar ride with a human-powered Uber or Lyft. But this difference is decreasing, according to new ones published on Tuesday by Obi, a company that combines real-time pricing and pickup times for multiple car rides.

Two things, working together, are responsible for this change. Waymo has lowered its prices, especially in the San Francisco Bay Area where the data was pulled, while traditional rides on the Uber and Lyft networks have increased, according to Obi.

The new data was collected between November 27 and January 1, with Obi estimating more than 94,000 requests in the Bay Area. The company found that a Waymo ride cost an average of $19.69, while an Uber ride was slightly cheaper at $17.47. The average Lyft ride over the same period was $15.47.

In June, Obi released his first report analyzing robotaxi data versus ride-hailing data. The data, taken in April 2025, showed that Waymo rose to an average of $20.43, Uber to $15.58, and Lyft’s ride to $14.44. Compared to these figures, Waymo’s average share price is down 3.62%, while Uber is up 12%, and Lyft is up 7%.

Obi’s CEO, Ashwini Anburajan, told TechCrunch that he believes this is the case because, while data from last April showed that customers were willing to pay a higher price to ride Waymo, “the novelty is starting to wear off for people in the Bay Area.” That means Waymo will continue to be competitively priced, he said.

Wild card: Tesla

The wild card in Obi’s new report is that it collected data on Tesla’s robotaxi service, which appears to be much cheaper than the other three offerings. But there are a few important caveats.

First, Tesla does not technically operate a robotaxi service in the San Francisco area, where the data was collected. Tesla does not have the necessary permits to operate a driverless robotaxi service in the state. It also does not have the license of ride-hailing companies like Uber or Lyft. Instead, Tesla has a license to permit transportation from the California Public Utilities Commission, which means the company uses employees to drive the company’s vehicles equipped with its Full Self-Driving program.

Tesla’s Bay Area fleet is limited. Crowdsourced information from the Robotaxi Tracker website helped to log in about 168 cars in the Tesla fleet, although not all of these vehicles are always in service. (Obi points out in the report that only 156 were viewed by the crowdfunding site during the company’s sampling period.)

The smaller ships are controlled by the waiting time. Of the four services requested, Tesla had the longest wait time with an average ETA of 15.32 minutes. Waymo’s average wait time was 5.74 minutes (up from 4.28 minutes last April), while Lyft and Uber clocked in at 5.14 minutes and 3.15 minutes, respectively.

These additions – fleet size, drivers, waiting times – would affect how Tesla’s prices increase in real terms, and it’s hard to say when and how they might happen. Tesla recently rolled out safety checks on a few cars in Austin, Texas.

If Tesla can scale up its robotaxis — which relies only on camera inputs — the company should charge lower prices than rivals like Waymo, which integrates its self-driving software into modified cars with a variety of sensors.

Popular competition

Anburajan thinks there is merit in Tesla’s use of a passenger service, ahead of any attempt to use real robotaxis.

“It’s not an autonomous car at this point. It has a safety driver in it. They’re creating brand awareness. They’re creating preferences for people who already like Teslas and people who like Teslas,” he said.

There is some proof of this in the report Obi released on Tuesday.

Along with field requests taken in the Bay Area, Obi surveyed 2,000 people in California, Nevada, Arizona, and Texas on a variety of topics related to robotaxis and ride-hailing. More than half of the respondents who took a ride in an autonomous car said they took a ride in a Tesla robotaxi. And when asked which brand of autonomous vehicle they liked best, respondents chose Tesla 31% of the time.

Waymo was still the favorite, with 39.8% of respondents choosing the alphabet brand. But the popularity of Tesla, even though the company is not working on a real robotaxi at any level, shows what will be needed in the future.

Tesla’s passion for power is also largely driven by a particular group: men. Women polled by Obi were evenly split in choosing Waymo or Tesla, with Zoox third at 8%. But 56% of men polled preferred Tesla over Waymo (25%) or Zoox (7%).

What’s next?

Obi’s report provides a good foundation ahead of what is sure to be a very eventful year in the world of autonomous vehicles. Waymo is rapidly expanding into new cities, even partnering with Uber and Lyft in some of them. These snowboarding companies are bringing more independents to their platforms, too. And Tesla will look to prove its robotaxi strategy works to expand its new offering.

Waymo is about to debut a new van-like vehicle it is developing with Chinese company Zeekr. The vehicle, known as the Ojai, is expected to be Waymo’s low-cost front-end and could allow the company to be more aggressive on pricing.

One thing is clear to Anburajan, though: The real competition is coming. Some companies are planning to launch their own robotaxis. Nuro is offering its self-driving technology to Lucid Gravity modified vehicles as part of a premium robotaxi network which will be operated by Uber. Hyundai-backed Motional has refocused its efforts and goals launch a robotaxi commercial service in Las Vegas before the end of the year. And other companies like Avride partnered with Uber bringing robotaxis to other US cities.

“It’s still early in the game, so no one is late, right?” he said. “We are in this new era, so who will take market share and move quickly to benefit consumers?”