Nandini Roy Choudhury, writer
In brief
- Waymo plans to launch its autonomous robotaxi service in Washington, D.C. by 2026, following successful operations in cities like San Francisco and Los Angeles.
- The company emphasizes safety through collaborations with the Governors Highway Safety Association and will begin with manual test drives to gather insights on urban driving conditions.
- Waymo’s expansion comes as competitors like General Motors’ Cruise are scaling back, while the company also plans to start service in Miami in 2026 through a partnership with Moove.io.
Detailed news
There is no doubt that Waymo is currently on its way to the nation’s capital.
It was stated on Tuesday by the firm that the autonomous driving robotaxi service, which is owned by Alphabet, will be available in Washington, District of Columbia, in the year 2026.
“I’ve experienced firsthand how safely the Waymo Driver operates around pedestrians, cyclists, and other vulnerable road users,” stated Jonathan Adkins, the Chief Executive Officer of the Governors Highway Safety Association. Throughout the expansion of their service, Waymo has collaborated with the Health and Safety Administration (GHSA) and our first responder network, always putting safety first. I am thrilled to be able to walk to work virtually every day, and I am looking forward to sharing the road with Waymo in Washington, District of Columbia.
In the present moment, Waymo One is now operating in the cities of San Francisco, Los Angeles, Silicon Valley, and Phoenix. Additionally, it is driving in the cities of Austin and Atlanta through its partnership with Uber.
Following a dominant 2024 for Waymo, which saw the company conduct more than 5 million rides in the previous year, the expansion comes at a time when other robotaxi competitors are still falling behind in the churning industry. According to a spokesman who talked with CNBC, the service will also be inaugurated in Miami in the year 2026 through a collaboration with the business Moove.io.
Beginning in December, General Motors began the process of discontinuing its Cruise robotaxi service. Even though Elon Musk’s Tesla has been promising “robotaxi cars” for close to a decade, the company has not yet completed the production of a robotaxi or launched a hailing service. Amazon’s Zoox is continuing its road testing in a number of cities across the United States, with the intention of beginning service in Las Vegas and then moving on to San Francisco.
Waymo did not give any further remark regarding the expansion to the District of Columbia.
An assortment of road journeys with the Waymo Driver will serve as the means via which the deployment will get began. In the beginning, test drives are run manually by human drivers. These drivers provide the company with input and context regarding the intricacies of driving in the city.
The company stated in the press release that they will continue to introduce themselves to the communities and emergency responders in the District of Columbia over the course of the next few months. Moreover, we will continue to collaborate closely with legislators in order to formalize the regulations that are required in order to conduct operations in the District without a human being operating the vehicle.
Source : CNBC news
