Credit: JasonDoiy

Waymo is set to expand its self-driving taxi service onto highways in three US cities on Wednesday, an advance for the venture owned by Google’s parent company that raises the stakes on safety.

The company said it would add the high-speed roads to its routes in Los Angeles, Phoenix, and San Francisco, allowing Waymo cars to ferry passengers to more destinations including San Jose International Airport.

Waymo’s rollout on highways marks a significant step for the robotaxi operator as it aims to encourage the mass adoption of driverless vehicles. It is the first time a company will carry out paid driverless services on the highway without a driver behind the wheel.

“Achieving fully autonomous freeway operations is a profound engineering feat—easy to conceive, yet hard to truly master,” said Dmitri Dolgov, Waymo’s co-chief executive.

Alphabet-owned Waymo started testing on highways last year but had limited its paid ride-hailing service to streets within set areas in five US cities.

Highways present additional challenges for Waymo, particularly around rider safety. Its vehicles will now reach speeds of up to 65 miles per hour, which increases the risk of deadly collisions.

Tekedra Mawakana, Waymo’s other co-CEO, speaking at TechCrunch’s Disrupt summit last month, was asked whether she thought the public would accept fatal incidents involving robotaxis. “I think society will,” she said.

Mawakana added her company did not think in terms of “how many [incidents] are allowable” and the challenge was ensuring the “bar on safety” was high enough.

Highway routes will initially be available to users who have opted in to early access for new features, before being rolled out more widely.

Passengers will be able to travel to and from the airport in San Jose, in the San Francisco Bay Area. The company already serves Phoenix airport but will now be able to access it on the highway.

Waymo, which launched its paid driverless taxi services in 2020, operates more than 250,000 rides a week. It has a fleet of more than 2,000 vehicles across its five US markets, primarily made up of Jaguar Land Rover electric I-Pace vehicles kitted out with its bespoke sensors and computing system.

Tesla, its main US rival, in September expanded services to the public as part of its robotaxi pilot in Austin, Texas, while Amazon-owned Zoox recently began services in Las Vegas.

Waymo said its vehicles would exit the highways in the event that they encountered technical issues. It also said it had partnered with highway patrol to prepare for circumstances where the vehicle would need to pull over.

The company has reported more than 1,250 collisions involving its vehicles since 2021, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. This has included accidents with passenger vehicles, trucks, and other objects, including a closing gate.

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