Waymo on Tuesday began offering robotaxi rides in Austin, Texas, through the Uber app.

The launch sets up Waymo to showcase its driverless technology during Austin’s annual South by Southwest festival that kicks off Friday. Approximately 300,000 people descend on the Texas capital to attend SXSW on average each year, according to the Austin Convention & Visitors Bureau.

“We can’t wait for Austin locals and visitors alike to experience Waymo One via the Uber app starting this week,” said Nicole Gavel, Waymo’s head of business development and strategic partnerships, in a statement.

Waymo previously said it would be launching in Austin, among several other U.S. cities, in 2025. 

Austin is the first market where Uber will manage and dispatch a fleet of Waymo vehicles. Riders in Phoenix can book Waymo rides through the Uber app, but the ride-sharing company does not manage the Waymo fleet in that market. The two companies’ partnership will expand to Atlanta later this year, where Waymo employees have already begun taking fully autonomous trips across the city, the company said Tuesday.

Uber sold off its autonomous vehicle, or AV, unit in 2020 after a string of earlier safety incidents including one fatality. The two companies have not disclosed how they split revenue for Waymo rides booked through the Uber app.

“With Waymo’s technology and Uber’s proven platform, we’re excited to introduce our customers to a future of transportation that is increasingly electric and autonomous,” Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi said in a statement. 

Alphabet-owned Waymo, which has pulled far ahead of self-driving car competitors in the U.S., is currently serving over 200,000 paid trips per week across San Francisco, Los Angeles and Phoenix, according to the company.

Waymo’s Austin expansion also sets up the company for a potential clash with Elon Musk-led Tesla later this year. 

Tesla has promised to launch a driverless rideshare service in Austin in June. The company already produces electric cars with partially automated driving systems. These require a human driver at the wheel ready to steer or brake at any time. Tesla has designed a robotaxi, called the CyberCab, but the company does not yet produce it.

Waymo riders will be able to travel across 37 square miles of Austin, covering neighborhoods including the city’s downtown, Hyde Park and Montopolis, the company said. Uber users who request an Uber X, Uber Comfort, Uber Green or Uber Comfort Electric will be shown the option to match with Waymo vehicles when available, the company added.

— CNBC’s Lora Kolodny contributed to this report.

WATCH: Uber and Lyft drop on news Waymo is expanding to Miami

The price of bitcoin failed to recover the $85,000 level – where it traded before President Donald Trump’s announcement of a U.S. crypto reserve sent it soaring – after a sell-off driven by tariff concerns knocked it down.

Bitcoin was last lower by 2% on Tuesday at $83,508.78, according to Coin Metrics, and off its all-time high by 23%.

Ripple-related XRP and Cardano’s ADA, two of the smaller cap coins mentioned in Trump’s surprise announcement, were still holding onto some of their gains from the rally. Solana’s SOL token also fully reversed its gain.

Shares of Coinbase, Robinhood and Strategy, formerly known as MicroStrategy, were all lower in premarket trading.

Risk assets including cryptocurrencies suffered steep declines on Monday as traders grappled with concerns that proposed tariffs were on track to take effect. That overshadowed the exuberance around Trump’s so named U.S. “strategic crypto reserve,” which some traders had hoped would pull bitcoin out of a slump. After reaching its record in January, it posted its worst month since 2022 in February.

Investors and analysts warn that economic uncertainty could keep its hold on bitcoin throughout March, with the crypto industry absent a specific catalyst. With the idea of a U.S. reserve holding crypto largely priced in, regulatory clarity through clear legislation may be the more likely catalyst to jump start prices in a meaningful way.

“The lack of information on the amount of crypto the U.S. government will buy, and how the purchase will be funded, coupled with fears of a market retreat if expectation does not meet reality, means that the likelihood of high volatility in the crypto markets will continue,” said Deutsche Bank analyst Marion Laboure said in a note Tuesday.

Investors this week will keep an eye on the inaugural White House Crypto Summit, which is scheduled to take place this Friday, for updates on the details of the reserve, as well as the administration’s plans to support the industry.

—CNBC’s Michael Bloom contributed reporting

In January, Toyota said its mobility software subsidiary “Woven by Toyota” was investing $44 million into Japanese rocket maker Interstellar Technologies. Rival Honda has been developing a proprietary reusable rocket since 2019 to launch low-earth orbit satellites to space. Chinese automaker Geely Holding Group, a Tesla competitor, has invested $326 million to manufacture its own satellites.

“What are those satellites going to be used for and what are they already being used for?” said Micah Walter-Range, president of consulting firm Caelus Partners. “Some of it is for improving navigation services for cars. Some of it’s for mapping. If you think about what’s going to be needed a little further down the road for autonomous vehicles, having full awareness of what’s going on on the road is incredibly valuable.”

Cars today use satellite connectivity for tracking and location, software updates and entertainment like satellite radio. But as cars become more and more connected, automakers need the infrastructure to make that possible. That’s where satellites, and the rockets needed to launch them, come into play. One recent report estimates that by 2030, connected vehicles could be a $742 billion annual revenue opportunity for automakers and suppliers.

“In the smartphone world, Apple is shifting from a single device sale to additional services that can be provided throughout the life of that device,” Walter-Range said. “So for a car, it’s the same deal. You know, once you sell that car, are there additional revenue streams that you can get by providing services? Some of those services can be delivered from space.”

One model is charging subscriptions for advanced driver assistance systems. General Motors‘ Super Cruise uses cameras, sensors and real-time location and map data from GPS satellites to allow the vehicle to do things like automatically steer and keep the car centered in a lane. In the company’s fourth-quarter earnings report, GM CEO Mary Barra said the company expected that within the next five years, Super Cruise would bring in about $2 billion in annual revenue for the company.

Watch the video to find out how else automakers and car companies can benefit from each other.