d_culturemap40d ago
Waymo will begin dispatching its robotaxis in Dallas and four more cities in Texas and Florida, expanding the territory covered by its fleet of self-driving cars to 10 major U.S. metropolitan markets.The move into Dallas, Houston, San Antonio and Orlando, Florida, announced Tuesday, February 24, widens Waymo's early lead in autonomous driving while rival services from Tesla and the Amazon-owned Zoox are still testing their vehicles in only a few U.S. cities.In contrast, Waymo's robotaxis already provide more than 400,000 weekly trips in the six metropolitan areas where they have been transporting passengers: Phoenix, the San Francisco Bay Area, Los Angeles, Miami, Atlanta, and Austin.Waymo operates its ride-hailing service through its own app in all the U.S. cities except Atlanta and Austin, where its robotaxis can only be summoned through Uber's ride-hailing service.In Dallas, they'll partner with Avis, according to a release — offering their ride-hailing service through the Waymo app, with a fleet managed through a new multi-year partnership with Avis Budget Group, whose expertise will help Waymo scale the Waymo Driver even faster.Avis will provide end-to-end fleet management services, including infrastructure, vehicle readiness, maintenance, and general depot operations.Dallas' downtown metro area is considered well suited for Waymo's 24/7 autonomous ride-hailing service. They also aim to improve road safety and partner with the city of Dallas on its "Vision Zero" plan to eliminate all traffic-related deaths and reduce severe injury crashes by 50 percent by 2030.The expansion into four more markets marks a significant step toward Waymo's goal to surpass 1 million weekly paid trips by the end of 2026. Without identifying where its robotaxis will be available next, Waymo is targeting a list of eight other cities that include Las Vegas, Washington, Detroit, and Boston while signaling its first overseas availability is likely to be London.To help pay for more robotaxis, Waymo recently raised $16 billion as part of the financial infusion that puts the value of the company at $126 billion. The valuation fueled speculation that Waymo may eventually be spun off from its corporate parent Alphabet, where it began as a secret project within Google in 2009.Although Waymo is opening up in four more cities, its robotaxis initially will only be made available to a limited number of people with its ride-hailing app in Dallas, San Antonio, Houston, and Orlando before the service will be available to all corners in those markets.---Teresa Gubbins contributed to this story.
