Waymo starting fully autonomous testing in Austin

Following Phoenix, San Francisco, and Los Angeles, the Waymo One ride-hailing service is coming next to Austin, with fully autonomous testing starting tomorrow.

Austin was announced as the fourth city for Waymo One in August of 2023. Waymo spent most of 2023 testing and is now ready to continue doing so without a human driver behind the wheel ahead of commercial operations. Waymo is particularly emphasizing how its technology “continues to generalize well to new environments.”

Waymo is testing across 43 square miles in Austin, including the “heart of downtown, Barton Hills, Riverside, East Austin, Hyde Park and more.” In 2016, Waymo conducted the “world’s first fully driverless ride on public roads — no police escort, no closed course, and most importantly, no test driver” in Austin using the Firefly prototype.

Waymo employees will be the first people to ride in these electric Jaguar I-Pace vehicles. The company shared what the car “sees” when driving in Austin.

Meanwhile, Waymo earlier this month gained regulatory approval to expand operations in the San Francisco Peninsula and Los Angeles.

More on Waymo:

• Driverless Waymo car vandalized and set on fire in San Francisco
• ‘Waymo One Tour’ lets you take an autonomous ride in Los Angeles
• You’ll soon see driverless Waymo cars on freeways