Waymo Drives Autonomously into Dallas with a New, but Familiar Fleet Partner
August 3, 2025
This Week in The Autonomy Economy is presented by Koop, a specialist insurance provider focused on robotics and autonomous vehicles.
This Week in the Autonomy Economy, Waymo announced an expansion into Dallas through a renewed partnership with Avis, Plus released their safety case framework, and Tesla launched a ride-hailing service in the Bay Area.
While it may have seemed like a relatively slow week in the autonomy markets, the announcements made this week could have long-term implications for the future of the autonomy economy. Waymo’s partnership with Avis, in particular, may accelerate the shift towards a REIT-like model of asset ownership for autonomous vehicle fleets.
In our opinion, Avis will own thousands, then tens of thousands, and eventually hundreds of thousands of robotaxis on their balance sheet. But they won’t be the only ones. When Tesla launches FSD Unsupervised, we expect groups of individual investors and Tesla enthusiasts to buy dozens of Model Ys and deploy them on the Tesla Robotaxi Network.
But how will these vehicles be insured? Traditional auto insurance providers most likely won’t underwrite the risk. But Koop will. If you’re planning to build your own robotaxi fleet and launch it on Tesla’s network, call Koop, they can help. Learn more at autonomy.insurance [sponsored].
As these decentralized robotaxi fleet owners grow, the next big opportunity could be consolidation. When does a roll-up occur, and who leads it? Could a fund step in and acquire Tesla fleet owner/operators in what most likely will be a highly fragmented market?
In theory, a fund could implement and execute a buy-and-build strategy, in a similar fashion to the way private equity firms are currently rolling up landscaping and HVAC companies. But the question still remains is, how much free-cash flow will these fleets generate, and where does the break-even point occur?
Right now, there are more questions than answers, but we are certain that autonomy is on its way to becoming an economy, an economy that we call the autonomy economy.
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What’s Moving the Markets
Waymo Expands to Dallas with a Familiar Partner
There’s an old saying, everything old is new again. This week, that rang true for Waymo as the company turned back the clock and announced a familiar partnership, renewing a relationship with Avis Budget Group.
This marks the second time Waymo and Avis have joined forces together. Their relationship dates back to 2017, when Avis served as Waymo’s fleet partner for the Chrysler Pacifica minivan fleet in Phoenix, Arizona.
As it turns out, that relationship was well maintained. Eight years later, the two companies are back together with a new multi-year partnership, one that appears to be far more substantial this time around.
During Avis Budget Group’s Q2 2025 earnings call, newly appointed CEO Brian Choi shared several compelling details about the renewed Waymo partnership. Before diving into the highlights, here are a few key points about Mr. Choi:
- Brian Choi officially became CEO of Avis Budget Group on July 1, 2025.
- Prior to that, he served as Chief Transformation Officer and CFO.
- He has been with the company for over nine years.
- Before joining Avis, he was a board member and investor with over two decades of experience in the mobility ecosystem, including investing in the sector.
Now, let’s take a look at some of the key highlights from the call:
The universe of mega fleet managers is small, but Waymo did have a few choices. Why did they go with us? Well, I can tell you how I positioned what we at Avis uniquely bring to the table. First, we are a truly global network. You can rent in Avis in 180 of the 193 countries around the world. If you’re an AV player with global ambitions, we’re the only mega fleet manager with that kind of footprint.
Second, instead of buying electric vehicles over the past few years, we’ve been investing in our EV infrastructure. We’ve been building out charging capabilities across our real estate portfolio. We’ve already gone through the brain damage of dealing with the long lead times from municipal authorities, both on the airport and utility side.
Third, we have alignment with Waymo on how massive and attractive an opportunity this is.
– Brian Choi, CEO, Avis Budget Group
Bingo! As Grayson Brulte and Walter Piecyk have discussed many times on Autonomy Markets, one of the biggest challenges holding back the scaling of robotaxis is the lack of adequate energy and charging infrastructure.
I think we have a lot of bandwidth to take on future partnerships, like I said, with Waymo. This is the first of what I hope is many cities. And in order to do that, we are going to have to put our balance sheet to work.
– Brian Choi, CEO, Avis Budget Group
Could Avis pursue multiple fleet management partnerships in an effort to rival Moove and Avomo?
It is a multiyear agreement. We fully expect to expand into additional cities in the near future.
– Brian Choi, CEO, Avis Budget Group
Which city will be next? Nashville, perhaps?
At this point, those vehicles are on Waymo’s balance sheet. As the landscape evolves, as different vehicles are put into place, I don’t think it’s unreasonable to say that how that changes and who holds what on the balance sheet that can change as well.
– Brian Choi, CEO, Avis Budget Group
In our opinion, this is a clear signal that Avis could eventually own Waymo vehicles on its balance sheet, marking a potential shift in Waymo’s strategy from operating a robotaxi business to operating a licensing business.
After listening to Avis Budget Group’s Q2 2025 earnings call (which you can listen to here), it became very evident that Avis has big plans and even bigger ambitions when it comes to autonomous vehicle fleet management.
Over the next couple of quarters, we are likely to learn much more about Waymo’s fleet strategy and how large of a role Avis will play in those plans.
If Nashville turns out to be the next Waymo market after Dallas, keep an eye on who the fleet management partner is, it could offer a clue about what’s coming next. The future might just be a global Waymo Avis partnership, as Avis operates in 180 countries around the world.
Our take: If Avis can successfully execute on its ambitions, they could very well become one of the largest autonomous vehicle fleet owners in the world. And if that happens, how will Hertz, Enterprise, Moove, Avomo, and Uber respond to counter their growth?
Waymo is currently ranked #1 with a bullish outlook on the AUTONOMY LEADERBOARD in the autonomous vehicle category.
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Piquing Our Interest
Plus Releases Safety Case Framework As Plus moves toward their stated goal of launching commercial service in 2017, the company released their safety case framework this week that measures the truck’s ability to handle a universe of safety cases.
Aurora Expands Operations to Phoenix Aurora continues to scale its business and expand its freight network. This week, the company announced the launch of a new pilot lane connecting Fort Worth to Phoenix, marking its expansion into the Phoenix market.
WeRide Plans to Increase Spending as Losses Mount WeRide, a Chinese autonomous vehicle company plans to increase spending despite mounting losses as the company aims to grow their global robotaxi business.
Is Waymo Coming to the Austin Airport? A photo shared on Reddit this week shows a Waymo vehicle at Austin-Bergstrom Airport (AUS), raising questions about whether airport service might be launching soon. After all, the Avomo/Uber/Waymo depot is just 2.1 miles from the terminal. A few weeks ago, Grayson Brulte and Walter Piecyk visited the depot and discussed it on an episode of Autonomy Markets. You can watch the episode here.
Autonomous Vehicles are Now One Step Closer in Australia Autonomous vehicles appear to be moving closer to deployment in Australia beyond mining operations, as The National Transport Commission released a new video this week signaling their imminent arrival.
📰 Before these stories were featured here, they were available on X. Follow @RoadToAutonomy today to stay up-to-date on the latest news and developments shaping the autonomy economy.
Social Buzz
Tesla Launches Ride-Hailing Service in the Bay Area
Tesla is aggressively moving towards scaling their robotaxi fleet in the United States. This week, the company announced an expansion into the San Francisco Bay Area, with a key caveat to comply with CPUC (California Public Utilities Commission) regulations: each vehicle will have a safety driver behind the wheel, employed by Tesla, and for now, the vehicles will remain company-owned to stay within the bounds of the regulations.
Our take: Regardless of how the optics may be interpreted, this is a clear signal that Tesla intends to build a massive robotaxi business, one that will directly compete with Waymo and perhaps one day surpasses Waymo.
Tesla is currently ranked #2 with a bullish outlook on the AUTONOMY LEADERBOARD in the autonomous vehicle category.
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