Alphabet's Waymo aims for 2026 self-driving ride-hailing launch in Washington, D.C

By David Shepardson

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Alphabet's self-driving unit Waymo said on Tuesday it aims to launch its fully autonomous ride-hailing service in the U.S. capital city next year.

Waymo began moving vehicles to Washington, D.C., in January and will bring more to the city in the coming weeks as it works to start paid commercial services as soon as next year.

"We will also work closely with policymakers to formalize the legal framework needed to operate without a human behind the wheel, as Washington, D.C. does not currently allow for fully autonomous operations," Waymo said on Tuesday.

Waymo One, the company's fully autonomous ride-hailing service, is providing more than 200,000 paid passenger trips each week in San Francisco, Phoenix, Los Angeles and Austin after more than 4 million paid trips in 2024. It plans to add Atlanta and Miami and then Washington, D.C.

The U.S. capital is home to federal regulators and lawmakers. Automakers and tech companies want the government to do more to speed vehicle deployments.

Waymo said in October that it had closed a $5.6 billion funding round led by Google-parent Alphabet, as it looks to expand its autonomous ride-hailing service despite some concerns from regulators about safety issues.

In May, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration opened an investigation after receiving 22 reports about Waymo robotaxis exhibiting driving behavior that potentially violated traffic safety laws, or demonstrating other "unexpected behavior," including 17 collisions.

NHTSA said several incidents "involved collisions with clearly visible objects that a competent driver would be expected to avoid."

Waymo last June recalled 672 of its self-driving vehicles after one of its driverless cars struck a wooden utility pole in Phoenix in May. The recall included a software update to improve vehicles' detection response to poles and "robust mapping updates and improvements."

In February 2024, Waymo recalled 444 self-driving vehicles after two minor collisions in quick succession in Arizona, saying a software error could result in automated vehicles inaccurately predicting the movement of a towed vehicle.

Waymo said Tuesday that based on collision data from more than 50 million rider-only miles (80.5 million km), Waymo vehicles have been involved in 81%, or 154, fewer injury-causing crashes compared to an average human driver.

(Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by Jamie Freed)