June 24 (Reuters) - Uber Technologies ( UBER ) on

Tuesday is beginning autonomous ride-hailing in Atlanta with

Alphabet unit Waymo after offering the service in

Austin, Texas, since March.

The companies, which first announced the plan for the

Atlanta service in September 2024, will offer Waymo autonomous

vehicles on the Uber app for travel across 65 square miles (168

square km) of Atlanta.

The race to deploy robotaxis is picking up pace as Waymo

expands testing and Tesla began limited trials of its

autonomous taxi service in Austin on Sunday, a sign of growing

momentum in self-driving vehicles.

There are now 100 Waymo vehicles on the Uber platform in

Austin and it will launch with dozens in Atlanta. 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 last year.

Riders will pay the same rates as UberX, Uber Comfort, or

Uber Comfort Electric when driven in a Waymo self-driving

vehicle but they will not be prompted to tip.

Waymo is operating fully autonomously on highways in

California and Arizona for employees but not yet for the public.

The Atlanta service is limited to surface streets.

Last week, Waymo said its vehicles will be back in New York

City next month for autonomous testing. Waymo has applied for a

permit from the New York City Department of Transportation to

operate autonomously, with a trained specialist behind the wheel

in Manhattan.

Waymo in March said it aims to launch fully autonomous

ride-hailing in the U.S. capital city of Washington next year.

Waymo has more than 1,500 vehicles running over 250,000

rides a week across San Francisco, Los Angeles, Phoenix and

Austin.

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 after the 2018 death of a pedestrian

who was struck by a self-driving Uber.

The backup safety driver behind the wheel of the Uber in the

fatal crash pleaded guilty in 2023 and was sentenced to

probation, prosecutors said.