Waymo, Alphabet’s autonomous vehicle subsidiary, has announced a major expansion of its commercial robotaxi service to 10 new American cities, following the successful operation in San Francisco and Phoenix. The new cities include Austin, Denver, Nashville, Charlotte, Tampa, Indianapolis, Portland, Salt Lake City, Cleveland, and Kansas City.
The company says it has now completed over 5 million autonomous rides with zero at-fault accidents, a milestone it claims demonstrates the commercial readiness of its technology. The Waymo One app will be available for download in all new cities from next month.
Each vehicle in the fleet โ a modified Jaguar I-PACE โ is equipped with 29 cameras, 5 radar units, and lidar sensors covering a 360-degree radius. Waymo says its latest software generation processes sensor data 10x faster than previous versions.
The expansion comes amid heightened competition from GM’s Cruise, Amazon’s Zoox, and several well-funded Chinese AV startups seeking US market entry.
