Waymo Expands Driverless Rides to Freeways in 3 Cities

Waymo, the Alphabet-owned developer of autonomous ride-hailing vehicles, has expanded its fully driverless service to include freeways in the San Francisco Bay Area, Los Angeles and Phoenix, allowing passengers to travel longer distances at higher speeds for the first time. The rollout, which began this week, extends service across the entire San Francisco Peninsula to San Jose, including pickups at San Jose Mineta International Airport, after millions of test miles on highways with employees and guests.

The company announced the freeway access alongside plans to introduce unsupervised testing in four additional U.S. cities in the coming weeks: Dallas, Houston, San Antonio and Orlando. Employees have already begun rider-only trips in Miami, with public access expected in all five cities next year. Waymo currently offers open service to the public in Atlanta, Austin, Los Angeles, Phoenix and the San Francisco Bay Area, where vehicles have completed over 10 million driverless miles.

This expansion builds on extensive validation of the Waymo Driver system's performance, which the company refines to address local road conditions, weather and traffic patterns. "Highway is a super...