Uber and Waymo have joined forces to launch a self-driving taxi service in Austin.

Uber (UBER.US) will begin offering Alphabet's (GOOGL.US) Waymo self-driving taxi service to its users in Austin, Texas on Tuesday, marking the formalization of their partnership. The ride-hailing company and Waymo announced in September that they would expand their partnership to launch self-driving taxi services in Austin and Atlanta starting in early 2025.

Uber said in a statement on Tuesday that its users can book Waymo's self-driving taxis for free. When a nearby Waymo self-driving taxi is dispatched to pick up a passenger, the Uber app will send a notification informing the rider that the ride will be provided by an autonomous vehicle and offering the option to switch to a human-driven car. The launch of the self-driving taxi service could be welcomed by passengers eager to try the latest technology.

The ride-hailing giant is ambitiously trying to expand its share of the growing self-driving market. Uber previously halted its expensive autonomous vehicle research and development work and shifted its self-driving strategy to partnering with autonomous vehicle manufacturers, autonomous software developers, and local fleet managers. Currently, Uber has more than a dozen global partnerships to deploy autonomous technology in its ride-hailing, delivery, and freight businesses.

Uber first offered Waymo's ride and delivery services in Phoenix, Arizona in 2023. While Waymo also offers rides through its own app in Phoenix, Uber said last fall that its app would be the only platform to offer Waymo's rides in Austin. Starting this summer, Uber's app will also be the only platform to offer Waymo's rides in Atlanta.

Despite the partnership, Uber and Waymo are also competitors. Waymo offers 200,000 rides per week in San Francisco, Phoenix, and Los Angeles, which users can book through Waymo's own app. Waymo also plans to launch its own app in Miami in early 2024. Meanwhile, competition also comes from Tesla. Tesla (TSLA.US) CEO Elon Musk said that the company will launch self-driving rides in Austin in June to compete with Uber and Waymo.