San Diego, California – Waymo, the self-driving car company backed by Google’s parent company Alphabet, announced Monday that its driverless taxi service is expanding to San Diego, Detroit, and Las Vegas — a major step in the company’s growing national footprint.
The move comes after months of quiet testing on San Diego streets earlier this year. Waymo said the trials helped the company assess how its autonomous vehicles handle different driving conditions and city layouts. “We’ll arrive with a mixed fleet of all-electric Jaguar I-PACE with the 5th-gen Waymo Driver and Zeekr RT vehicles equipped with our 6th-gen Waymo Driver,” the company said in a statement. “We’re coordinating closely with local officials as we expand to San Diego and look forward to collaborating with local partners while employing our step-by-step approach to expansion.”
San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria welcomed the news, framing it as part of the city’s broader effort to embrace cleaner and more innovative modes of transportation. “By welcoming innovative and promising technologies like Waymo’s autonomous vehicle service, we’re exploring how to make transportation more accessible, more sustainable, and more connected for everyone in our community,” Gloria said in a statement posted on Waymo’s website…