Waymo kicked two “road trips” to Philadelphia and New York Monday, signaling the alphabetical company’s interest in expansion to northeastern cities.
Waymo’s marked “road trips” do not necessarily signal a business launch anytime soon. Waymo has announced several other road trips this year, including Houston, Orlando, Las Vegas, San Diegoand San Antonio. Typically, the travels involve sending a small fleet of human-driven vehicles equipped with Waymo’s autonomous driving system to map the new city. Then Waymo tests the vehicles autonomously, though still with a man behind the wheel, before taking data and learning back to his engineers to improve the performance of the AI driver.
In some cases, these road trips caused business throws. In 2023, the company made a road trip to Santa Monica, a city in Los -English Prefecture. The company now operates a commercial service in Los -English, including Santa Monica, Beverly Hills, and Hollywood.
For his Philadelphia trip, Waymo plans to put vehicles in the most complex parts of the city, including downtown and freeways, along a spokesman. She realized that people will see Waymo vehicles driving “at all hours through various Philadelphia neighborhoods, from north central to Eastwick, University City, and as east as the Delaware River.”
In New York, Waymo will drive its cars manually in Manhattan just north of Central Park down to the battery and parts of the central Brooklyn. The company also map parts of Jerseyerze and Hoboken in New Jerseyerze.
Waymo applied last month for permission To test his AVs in New York with a man behind the wheel. The company has not yet received approval.
This is not the company’s first time in the Big Apple. Waymo at the beginning deployed a small fleet of vehicles in late 2021 until Map parts of Manhattan and New Jerseyerze. This past winter, Waymo has taken road trip to Buffalo Testing self-drive in winter conditions.
Even though Waymo is approved to test its vehicles autonomously in New York with a specialist behind the wheel, it will be a long way to a business deployment. The AV regulations of NYC currently do not allow operators to deploy self-driving vehicles with no human in the previous seat law Waymo is currently recommending to change.
Waymo’s ongoing testing across the country is anchored by the company’s current business robotaxi services offered in Atlanta, Austin, the Bay Area, Los -English and Phoenix. Waymo plans to launch in Miami This year and Washington DC in 2026.
