Waymo said it plans on launching commercial robotaxi services in three new cities: San Diego, Las Vegas, and Detroit. The announcement comes after the company said it would begin rapidly scaling to bring its fully driverless technology to more people on a faster timeline.
Waymo didn’t say exactly when it plans on opening up its vehicles to customers in all three cities, but it will likely be sometime next year. The company currently operates in five cities: San Francisco Bay Area, Los Angeles, Phoenix, Austin, and Atlanta. It has also said it wants to launch in Boston, Seattle, Denver, Miami, New York City, and Washington, DC. (The company is experiencing local pushback in both Boston and Seattle.)
Waymo is licensed for autonomous ridehailing in California, but will still need to obtain approval in Nevada and Michigan before it can operate fully driverless cars in a commercial capacity. Waymo will need a Transportation Network Company permit in Michigan, and testing approval from both Nevada’s DMV and the state’s transportation authority for commercial operations, Waymo spokesperson Sandy Karp said.
“We’ll follow our safety framework and serve riders in these cities when we’ve properly validated our technology and obtained the necessary permissions, with the intentions to open our doors to riders next year,” Karp added in an email.
Waymo also says it will be adding its new Zeekr RT vehicles to its fleet of Jaguar I-Pace SUVs when its ready to commence commercial operations in the three cities announced today. The Zeekr RT, which is made by China’s Geely, will be equipped with the company’s 6th generation technology that Waymo says is more cost efficient.
