Waymo expands autonomous ride-hailing to Seattle, Denver and San Jose Airport

Waymo is expanding its autonomous ride-hailing service to the Seattle metropolitan area and Denver, and will soon operate fully autonomous rides at San José Airport. The rollout includes Jaguar I-PACE and Zeekr EVs equipped with Waymo’s latest self-driving technology.

The company highlighted years of local experience and testing in diverse conditions as key to safely operating its service. In Seattle, Waymo has focused on understanding communities and local weather patterns to provide safe and accessible mobility.

In Denver, Waymo will deploy a mixed fleet of Jaguar I-PACE vehicles with the fifth-generation Waymo Driver and Zeekr RT vehicles with the sixth-generation system, engineered for autonomous operation in harsh winter conditions. At San José Airport, Waymo has received authorisation to offer fully autonomous rides, building on its commercial service at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport.

The expansion reflects Waymo’s continued deployment of electric autonomous vehicles in urban areas and airports across the United States.“Waymo was born in Silicon Valley, and our testing and eventual commercial deployment at the airport will help us offer a valuable service to travellers in San Jose and more of the Bay Area,” said Annabel Chang, Head of US State and Local Public Policy at Waymo.

The news comes after the Alphabet subsidiary recently recalled 1,212 autonomous vehicles in the US due to software limitations that caused minor collisions with roadside objects such as chains, gates, and utility poles. These were caused by a software issue that had been fixed even before the recall was issued.

Waymo currently operates over 1,500 autonomous vehicles across San Francisco, Los Angeles, Phoenix and Austin, delivering more than 250,000 fully autonomous paid rides weekly. Expansion plans include new deployments in Atlanta, Miami and Washington, D.C.

waymo.com (Seattle), waymo.com (Denver), waymo.com (San Jose)