Waymo hands its depot work to Moove, and names Miami next

PHOENIX, December 2024 — Waymo is handing the day-to-day work of keeping its robotaxis on the road to an outside company, starting in Phoenix and then in Miami. Here's what launched, what it cost, and what went wrong.

Cost and outcome (as of Dec. 5, 2024)

Partner: Moove takes over "management of our fleet operations, facilities, and charging infrastructure" in Phoenix, Waymo said. (Waymo)
Timing: the Phoenix handover was planned for early 2025; Miami testing in early 2025 and public rides in 2026. (TechCrunch)
Scale: over 150,000 trips per week across Phoenix, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Austin, Waymo said. (Waymo)
Deal terms: not disclosed. (TechCrunch)

What Moove will do

The Verge reported that in Phoenix, Moove's job includes cleaning the vehicles, charging them, and making sure the sensors are calibrated and unobstructed. In Miami, TechCrunch reported, Moove will build the charging infrastructure and depots Waymo needs while Waymo tests its cars.

Waymo keeps the parts tied to the driving itself. Waymo's post says it will still offer the service through the Waymo One app and "remain responsible for validation and operation of the Waymo Driver."

"Together, we will provide safe, seamless trips for riders, and scale faster and more cost-effectively over time," said Ryan McNamara, Waymo's vice president of operations. Ladi Delano, Moove's co-founder and co-CEO, said Moove would bring "the operational expertise to make this transformation possible."

Who Moove is

TechCrunch described Moove as "an African mobility fintech that offers vehicle financing to gig workers." It operates in cities across Africa, the Middle East, India and the U.K., and has raised over $400 million from backers including Mubadala Investment Company and BlackRock. Earlier in 2024 it raised $100 million in a round led by Uber. The Verge put its valuation at $750 million.

Moove has been an exclusive fleet partner for Uber, buying vehicles and leasing them to drivers who pay weekly until they own the cars, according to TechCrunch. This deal is its first in the U.S. and its first with autonomous vehicles. In 2022, Moove said it would deploy up to 10,000 EVs and over 6,000 charging points in London by the end of 2025 for Uber's electric push there, TechCrunch reported.

Why Waymo is doing this

TechCrunch said the deal signals that Waymo wants to outsource more of the commercial side and focus on the driving technology. Co-CEO Tekedra Mawakana had written on LinkedIn that Waymo intends to build an ecosystem that includes "charging infrastructure partners; fleet maintenance partners." In Austin and Atlanta, Waymo's cars were set to run only on the Uber app from early 2025.

The Miami plan

Waymo has tested in Miami on and off since 2019, The Verge reported, and its post says rainy Florida trips helped its driving system. Waymo planned to bring Jaguar I-Pace vehicles back to Miami streets in early 2025. TechCrunch described the usual sequence: manual mapping drives, then autonomous testing with a safety operator, then employee-only rides, then a commercial launch. Miami previously hosted testing by Ford-backed Argo AI, which shut down when Ford pulled its funding, according to The Verge.

Miami's mayor, Francis X. Suarez, welcomed the plan, saying Waymo's "all-electric fleet is the perfect mobility option to our city."

What went wrong

No terms. Neither company disclosed what Waymo pays Moove or how performance is measured.
A new kind of work for Moove. Moove had no prior U.S. operations or autonomous-vehicle experience, per TechCrunch.
No Miami map. Waymo would not say which Miami neighborhoods it was targeting.
What we don't know yet: whether outsourced depots keep cars as clean and available as Waymo's own, and whether Miami launches on time.

Our follow-up question for Waymo

How will Waymo measure Moove's work in Phoenix, and what happens if vehicle availability drops after the handover?

Later developments (added Oct. 2026)

Lyft's Flexdrive unit was named as Waymo's fleet partner in Nashville in September 2025 (Lyft). See Part 2.
Waymo opened Miami to public riders in January 2026, with Moove handling fleet services (CNBC). See Part 3.
Moove is also expected to manage Waymo's vehicles in London, TechCrunch reported in April 2026 (TechCrunch). See /case/london-robotaxi-waymo-plan.

Sources

Waymo, “Next stop Miami,” Dec. 5, 2024. waymo.com
TechCrunch, Rebecca Bellan, “Waymo outsources fleet operations to African fintech Moove in Phoenix and, soon, Miami,” Dec. 5, 2024. techcrunch.com
The Verge, Andrew J. Hawkins, “Waymo's next robotaxi city will be Miami,” Dec. 5, 2024. theverge.com
TechCrunch, Kirsten Korosec, “Waymo opens robotaxi service in Nashville, partners with Lyft,” April 7, 2026. techcrunch.com
Lyft, “Lyft and Waymo Launch Partnership to Expand Autonomous Mobility to Nashville,” Sept. 17, 2025. investor.lyft.com
CNBC, Lora Kolodny, “Waymo launches robotaxi service in Miami, extending U.S. lead,” Jan. 22, 2026. cnbc.com

Disclosure: [not in copy] Editor placeholder