Alphabet’s Waymo robotaxis to roll out in Washington next year

Waymo, Alphabet's autonomous driving subsidiary, revealed on Tuesday its plans to roll out a fully self-driving ride-hailing service in Washington, DC, next year.

Confirming the development, CEO Sundar Pichai posted on X, “D.C.: We’re on our way!”



Waymo started deploying vehicles in Washington, DC, this January and plans to add more in the coming weeks as it prepares to launch paid commercial services as early as next year.

Waymo One is currently completing over 200,000 paid passenger trips per week across San Francisco, Phoenix, Los Angeles, and Austin, following more than four million paid rides in 2024.

The company plans to expand next to Atlanta and Miami, with Washington, DC, to follow, Reuters reported.

During Alphabet’s latest earnings call, Pichai revealed that Waymo is developing an upgraded version of its driving technology aimed at reducing hardware costs.

The unit operates under Alphabet’s “Other Bets” division, which brought in $400 million in revenue during the fourth quarter, ET reported.

Recently, ride-hailing service Uber began to deploy self-driving cars to pick up passengers through a partnership with Waymo. Under the collaboration, only Uber users have the option to hail Waymo’s fleet of autonomous Jaguar I-PACE vehicles.