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Waymo (GOOGL+1.47%), the self-driving startup backed by Alphabet, is sending its robotaxis to Washington, D.C.
The company said it wants to launch its Waymo One ride-hailing service in the U.S. capital in 2026, although it will need to work with legislators to change city law before a full launch. Currently, autonomous vehicle companies in the district need to have a human driver behind the steering wheel. Tech advocates have been pressing local officials to loosen the restrictions for a while.
Waymo temporarily entered Washington last March as part of the company’s training regiment, with human drivers steering the cars around areas such as Dupont Circle. The company began moving its cars back to the district in January and plans to bring more to the city in the coming weeks.
Waymo One provides more than 200,000 paid passenger trips each week in San Francisco, Phoenix, Los Angeles, and Austin, Texas — the company made more than four million trips in 2024. It plans to launch the service in Atlanta and Miami, then Washington.
“We’re excited to bring the comfort, consistency, and safety of Waymo One to Washingtonians, those who work and play in the city every day, and the millions of people from around the world who travel to the District every year,” Waymo co-CEO Tekedra Mawakana said in a statement.
A greater presence in the nation’s capital could help Waymo appeal to federal legislators and safety officials interested in autonomous vehicles, which some say are the future of the automotive industry. Although the states have generally been left to develop individualized rules for safely deploying robotaxis, that could change.
Last week, a series of trade groups — including the Alliance for Automotive Innovation and the Autonomous Vehicle Industry Association — called on Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy to implement a national performance-based framework, Reuters reported. The groups also asked Duffy to declare the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) as the sole regulator of self-driving vehicle operations.
“If the federal government fails to act to advance sensible AV policies we will cede our leadership in this economically crucial sector to China,” the groups said in a letter. “Multiple agencies and state regulatory regimes create inconsistent rules, risking safety gaps and eroding public trust.”
In December, members of President Donald Trump’s transition team were reportedly planning on making a federal framework for fully autonomous vehicles a priority for the incoming Department of Transportation. Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla (TSLA+2.96%) and an influential senior advisor to Trump, has said he will push for a national approach to driverless vehicle regulation.
Tesla plans to launch a ride-hail service in Austin around June, joining Amazon’s (AMZN+0.97%) Zoox and Waymo — among others — in the city. The company’s designated robotaxi, the Cybercab, won’t enter volume production until next year. Any rideshare services will likely rely on Model Y and Model 3 vehicles equipped with Tesla’s Full Self-Driving software.