DETROIT – If you spot a Waymo in Detroit without a human driver behind the wheel, there’s no need to panic — the robotaxi service has officially rolled out fully autonomous driving in the city on Tuesday.
Though the service isn’t open to public riders quite yet, the announcement marks a major step toward Waymo’s eventual expansion across the Metro Detroit area.
The company says the milestone follows several months spent “familiarizing the Waymo Driver with the city, coordinating closely with local officials, and engaging with community members to understand their transportation needs and how their technology can best serve them.”
“We’ll continue driving in the downtown and surrounding neighborhoods like Corktown, Midtown, Hamtramck, and Indian Village, as we work to gradually expand across the broader metropolitan area over time,” a statement from the company said Tuesday.
The service will only be available to Waymo employees while it establishes a “safety framework” for operating in the city, the company says, with plans to open it up to public riders in the near future once the technology has been “properly validated.”