The company Waymo, a subsidiary of the technology conglomerate Alphabet, is challenging the personal transportation sector in the United States. This is due to the way it is driving the consolidation of the autonomous vehicle service, paving the way for the dominance of robo-taxis. This would not only push secondary means of transportation, such as buses and subways, into the background, but the company has gone further, mapping out plans to cover 12 U.S. cities by 2026.
The company’s Co-CEO, Tekedra Mawakana, stated that the intention goes beyond just expanding across cities; it also includes offering 1 million trips per week. The science fiction future where we travel in a driverless autonomous vehicle seems closer than we thought. While Waymo announces these advances, its direct competitors such as Tesla, Zoox, and Uber are hot on its heels.
Waymo autonomous driving
Owned by Alphabet, Google’s parent company, Waymo is a technology company dedicated to the development of autonomous driving, with the purpose of creating systems that allow vehicles to drive themselves. After more than a decade focused on testing and development stages in the technological hub of Silicon Valley, the company has made it possible for the vehicle system to easily adapt to the peculiarities of new cities.
This development period laid the foundation for the commercial launch of the first robotaxi service in Phoenix, Arizona. It has not been an easy or short path, but today they can say that the vehicle features adapt to any type of particularity. One of the most notable is its all-weather driving functionality, which guarantees the service regardless of the weather conditions when requested. The first robotaxi service was launched in Phoenix and later in San Francisco, Los Angeles and Austin.
Autonomous Driving for 2026 in the United States
Waymo’s expansion plan includes introducing new cities into its app by 2026. Starting November 13, Detroit, Las Vegas, and San Diego will launch fully autonomous rides, serving as a preview for the dozen cities they plan to include each year from 2026 on Waymo’s routes. It is expected that Austin, Atlanta, Denver, Los Angeles, Miami, Nashville, Phoenix, San Francisco, Seattle, and Washington, D.C. will be part of the routes.
The expansion aims not only to operate in more regions but also to increase the number of trips per year. According to the company’s co-CEO, Tekedra Mawakana, “The goal is to offer about 1 million trips weekly.” This goal is achievable, according to the company, since they are already recording around 25,000 rides per week.
Waymo is not alone
The implementation of the service would not have been possible if Waymo had not had Uber, the ride-sharing company. Their collaboration has facilitated the rollout of a completely new and different transportation system from what consumers were used to until now, but it has been successful. However, its leadership position is threatened by rivals who also want to enter the autonomous mobility market.
These are powerful names like Tesla, which also has its own Robotaxi project driven by Elon Musk, and Zoox, which is testing its innovative steering-wheel-free capsule fleet in Las Vegas, a different but equally aggressive approach to gaining ground. While the legislative debate on driverless vehicles continues without setting definitive rules, Waymo’s constantly expanding fleet is rewriting the narrative of public transportation, offering an exciting travel alternative in major cities in the US.