Waymo robotaxis will now carry passengers on highways in three major U.S. cities, marking a major milestone for the driverless ride-hailing company.
alphabetWaymo, its subsidiary, announced Wednesday that it will begin offering these types of trips in the San Francisco, Phoenix and Los Angeles markets “where highways are significantly faster.” Over time, Google’s sister companies will gradually expand highway travel to more passengers and locations.
Waymo’s self-driving cars have previously picked up passengers on small highways and side streets, but Wednesday’s expansion marks the first time the company will collect fares from regular passengers on highways with higher speed limits.
“Highway driving is one of the very easy things to learn, but when you’re talking about fully autonomous driving and large-scale driving without a human driver as backup, it’s very difficult to master,” Waymo co-CEO Dmitri Dolgov said at a press event ahead of the announcement. “It took a while to get it right.”
Waymo vehicles typically travel up to the maximum posted highway speed, often 105 mph, the company said. However, a spokesperson acknowledged that robotaxis may travel several miles over the limit in unusual circumstances for safety reasons.
Waymo said the highway service required expanded operating procedures, including coordination with safety personnel from the California Highway Patrol and the Arizona Department of Public Safety. The company has also installed the additional infrastructure needed to charge its fleet of electric robotaxis in light of highway expansion.
Waymo has been offering select Alphabet employees robotaxi rides on freeways around San Francisco, Los Angeles and Phoenix for the past year in preparation for Wednesday’s launch, said Waymo product manager Jacopo Sannazzaro.
He added that the company has been testing on highways for more than 10 years in total. In addition to testing on public roads and closed courses, Waymo also conducts simulation tests to determine how the vehicle responds to both typical and difficult-to-replicate events, such as merging onto a freeway, a motorcyclist cutting into your lane, or another car rolling over.
CNBC took a Waymo for a freeway test drive in the San Francisco Bay Area, from YouTube’s offices in San Bruno to San Mateo and back. It was a smooth ride up and down the ramps along California 101 without any incidents.
Waymo’s continued expansion
Waymo has already launched robotaxi services in Austin, Texas, San Francisco, Phoenix, and Los Angeles, and has announced plans to expand to Miami, San Diego, and Washington DC in 2026. The company is also testing vehicles in New York City and Tokyo, and plans to launch a public ride-hailing service in London next year.
Waymo also announced Wednesday that it is expanding its San Francisco Bay Area service base to San Jose. This includes round-trip transportation to San Jose Mineta International Airport, the company’s second international airport destination. SJC airport plans were first announced in September.
In 2023, Waymo began service at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport, making it the most popular destination in the Phoenix metropolitan service area.
The company expanded its service in March to cover an additional 27 square miles in the region, including cities like Mountain View and Palo Alto. After Wednesday’s expansion, Waymo now serves about 260 square miles of Silicon Valley.
Waymo’s potential competitors tesla We also provide transportation for passengers to and from SJC. Customers can hail a ride through Tesla’s Robotaxi app, which doesn’t exactly explain its name. Due to a mix of technical restrictions and permitting requirements in California, Tesla only operates a car service with human drivers, rather than a commercial robotaxi service like Waymo.
