Waymo, the self-driving company owned by Alphabet, is fast hitting the highways. Highway operations are another part of a rapid expansion plan that includes moving to six US cities, entering international markets and launching service at the airport – all while maintaining a focus on safety above all else.
“It’s important that we do it,” said Theedra Mawakana, Co-Of Waymo, while speaking at TechCrunch’s Disrupt 2025 today (Oct. 27). Mawakana said Walmo plans to increase its weekly independent rides to “hundreds of thousands” of one million by 2026.
Waymo will begin operations in Miami early next year, Mawakana said. Timelines for other cities will depend on local regulatory requirements. In some markets, Waymo will just “show up and they’ll launch,” he said. Others, like Washington DC, will need more work before fully autonomous riding can take off.
The company also places its products overseas. Last year, Waymo announced plans to test operations in Tokyo through taxi firms affiliated with Nihon Kotsu, which uses human-driven vehicles to train its crowded technology. London is next: The company revealed earlier this month that it will start offering full autonomous driving there in 2026.
Waymo’s expansion isn’t limited to geography — it’s moving on to new types of roads. Until now, its vehicles have been largely limited to surface roads. But the company has begun testing on the highway through employee trials in Phoenix, Los Angeles and San Francisco. “We think it is very important to clarify the routes where the information is very different from the surface roads,” said Mwakakana, adding that the highway ride will be open to the public by the end of the year.
Traveling to highways will make it easier for Waymo to facilitate airport travel – a category that the company “is very focused on, according to Mawakana. Waymo has already secured permits to operate at the airports in San Francisco and San Jose and they hope to add more as its vehicles become a more common sight on highways.
Opening more roads raises the stakes for safety. Waymo, which publishes its safety data online, reports that its vehicles are involved in 91 percent of high-profile crashes, 78 percent of fatal crashes and 80 percent of injuries caused by human drivers. If that record starts to slip, Mawakana said the company “will not” be completely successful. “That’s what it means to be a safety-first culture.”
Part of that culture, he added, is being transparent about technological limitations. “I’m not telling you 100 percent across the board, and that’s very important,” Mwakakana said. “We have to be in this open and honest conversation about the fact that we know it’s not perfect.”
