What we know about Waymo’s 2025 expansion plans

What we know about Waymo’s 2025 expansion plans

These cities were specifically chosen to challenge Waymo vehicles since both cities have unique layouts and unconventional road designs.

Atlanta

In partnership with Uber, Waymo plans to launch autonomous ride-hailing services in Atlanta in early 2025. The collaboration will use Waymo’s fully autonomous, all-electric Jaguar I-Pace vehicles, with Uber managing and dispatching the fleet through its app.

Miami

Waymo is preparing to introduce its robotaxi service in Miami, with testing of driverless vehicles set to begin in 2025. The company aims to launch public ride-hailing services in the city by 2026.

Tokyo

In December 2024, Waymo announced its first international expansion into Tokyo, partnering with Nihon Kotsu and the ride-hailing app GO to integrate autonomous technology into the city’s complex urban environment. The initial phase will deploy 25 manually operated vehicles to map key districts, but there are no immediate plans for public ride-hailing.

In addition to these new cities, Waymo continues testing in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, upstate New York, and Truckee, California, to evaluate driving in different weather conditions.

Cruise hits the brakes

As Waymo moves forward with expansion, one of its biggest competitors has pulled the plug on its robotaxi program. GM announced in December 2024 that the company was shutting down Cruise, its autonomous ridesharing service. After nearly a decade of development costing over $10 billion, GM acknowledged the challenges of scaling this type of business.

Cruise also faced public scrutiny when a serious accident made headlines in 2023. One of its vehicles operating in San Francisco hit and dragged a pedestrian 20 feet down the street. This incident led to the suspension of Cruise’s permit, forcing it to halt services nationwide and causing the CEO to resign. Fortunately, the pedestrian survived.

Ford also took a step back from developing robotaxis back in 2022 when it shut down Argo AI, the autonomous vehicle startup it was backing.

Meanwhile, Tesla continues to forge ahead with testing its Cybercab in Austin despite regulatory challenges. Its autonomous taxis will allegedly be available to the public by 2027.

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