Waymo said it is launching fully driverless robotaxi rides for employees in Atlanta, an important step before the company opens the service up to members of the public later in 2025.
This is the latest signal of Waymo’s push into new markets, and it comes two months after the company closed a $5.6 billion Series C round at a $45 billion valuation. The round was led by heavy hitters, including Alphabet, Andreessen Horowitz, Fidelity, Tiger Global, and others.
The company earlier this week announced plans to test in 10 new cities this year, starting with San Diego and Las Vegas.
When Waymo officially launches its commercial robotaxi service in Atlanta, it will be exclusively via the Uber app. Waymo and Uber also plan to launch together in Austin this year.
The Alphabet-owned self-driving company opened up robotaxi rides to certain members of the public in Austin in October after first offering rides to employees seven months earlier.
Waymo’s Atlanta milestone comes a day after Elon Musk said Tesla would launch a robotaxi service in Austin in June. Tesla has yet to bring a fully autonomous vehicle to public roads that doesn’t require a human driver behind the wheel ready to take over.
Waymo runs its own autonomous ride-hail service, Waymo One, in San Francisco, Phoenix, and Los Angeles.
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