Waymo to launch autonomous ride-hailing in Madrid next year
Waymo said its Madrid rollout will start with safety testing and local drivers before a 2027 launch, citing 95% fewer serious crashes than human drivers.
- On Tuesday, Alphabet's autonomous driving unit Waymo announced plans to launch fully autonomous ride-hailing in the Madrid region by 2027, with Electric Jaguar I-PACE vehicles beginning manual testing in the coming days.
- The company will operate under the Spanish traffic agency DGT's autonomous vehicle testing framework, following the DGT's issuance of national permits to competitors WeRide and Uber last month.
- Safety data from over 400 million kilometers shows Waymo Driver had 95% fewer serious-injury crashes than human drivers, with Mar Cogollos, Director for the Spanish Association for the Study of Spinal Cord Injury, noting this eliminates human error.
- Waymo operates in more than 15 U.S. cities with over 20 million cumulative paid rides, positioning the company to integrate Madrid into its existing transportation network.
- The company also aims to launch services in London this year, Tokyo in 2027, and Toronto in 2028, demonstrating a strategy to deploy autonomous fleets across international markets.
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The Community of Madrid is preparing to lead the revolution of autonomous driving in Europe. Waymo, Alphabet’s autonomous vehicle subsidiary, has announced the start of its operations in the Spanish capital to lay the foundations for its future commercial robotaxis service.
Cars that are supposed to learn to drive without a driver will hit the streets of Madrid this year. The American company Waymo from the Alphabet group plans to use them to launch the first fully autonomous taxi service in Spain in 2027. But first, they will be tested with trained drivers behind the wheel.
With more than 20 million trips made and hundreds of thousands of commercial trips served each week, we are excited to be part of the region's transport ecosystem. Our goal is to welcome our first users in 2027," he said to Waymo.
¡Llegamos a Madrid! Waymo is Coming to Spain - CleanTechnica
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The DGT has established a clear framework to boost the testing and safe deployment of autonomous mobility.
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