Waymo begins self-driving trials in Philadelphia

Waymo Expands Robotaxi Testing to Additional Cities

Waymo is broadening its autonomous vehicle operations by introducing its robotaxi testing to four more cities. The company revealed that it has started operating its self-driving cars, accompanied by safety drivers, in Philadelphia. Additionally, Waymo will soon begin gathering data through manual driving in Baltimore, St. Louis, and Pittsburgh.

At this stage, Waymo has not specified when it intends to launch commercial robotaxi services in these new areas. It also remains unclear whether the Alphabet subsidiary will collaborate with local partners for these rollouts, as it has done in cities like Atlanta and Austin by teaming up with Uber to accelerate deployment.

These cities join a roster of more than 20 locations where Waymo is either providing rides, preparing for commercial launches, or conducting tests. The company has also begun offering autonomous rides on highways in Los Angeles, Phoenix, and the San Francisco Bay Area. Waymo aims to reach a milestone of one million rides per week by the close of 2026.

According to recently published company data, Waymo asserts that its vehicles operate with a safety record five times better than that of human drivers.

However, the company’s rapid growth has not been without challenges. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is currently examining the behavior of Waymo’s vehicles around school buses, following an incident in Atlanta where a Waymo car was seen passing a stationary school bus in September.

Further scrutiny arose this week when Austin news outlet KXAN reported that Waymo vehicles have repeatedly driven past school buses engaged in loading or unloading children—even after the company claimed to have implemented software updates to resolve this issue.