Waymo introduced Tuesday that it’s going to carry each of its automobiles — the Jaguar I-Tempo SUV and the Zeekr van — to Denver and Seattle beginning this week, the newest transfer in a continued growth throughout the USA.
The automobiles can be manually pushed to start out, earlier than the corporate begins testing its autonomous tech in each cities. Waymo instructed TechCrunch that it hopes to start out providing robotaxi journeys in Denver subsequent 12 months and the Seattle metropolitan space “as quickly as we’re permitted to take action.” Denver and Seattle can be two of probably the most extreme-weather cities that Waymo is feeling out, giving it an opportunity to check out its tech in snow, wind, and rain that’s more durable to come back by in locations like Phoenix.
The brand new cities be a part of a rising record of locations the place Waymo is working within the U.S. Simply final week the corporate introduced that it has greater than 2,000 robotaxis in its business fleet countrywide, with 800 within the San Francisco Bay Space, 500 in Los Angeles, 400 in Phoenix, 100 in Austin, and “dozens” in Atlanta. Waymo has additionally introduced plans to launch a business robotaxi companies in Dallas, Miami, and Washington, D.C., subsequent 12 months, and just lately acquired a allow to begin testing in New York Metropolis.
That’s to not point out the opposite cities the place Waymo has dipped its toes. It’s introduced automobiles on “street journeys” to locations like Philadelphia and plans to do the identical in Las Vegas, San Diego, Houston, Orlando, and San Antonio.