Waymo robotaxis could hit the roads in more than 20 cities this year, the company announced, with a $16 billion investment round fueling its global expansion plans.
The Alphabet-owned firm’s ride-hailing service could come to London as soon as September. Waymo’s cars have already driven 173 million fully autonomous miles, mostly in the US, though the UK capital presents a different challenge from California’s urban grids, London Centric noted.
Chinese robotaxi firms are also accelerating their global expansion efforts, and some, like WeRide and Pony.ai, have emerged as serious competitors to Waymo, The Wire China wrote. But the government remains concerned over self-driving cars’ safety issues and their impact on China’s 7 million estimated cab drivers.
