Waymo is officially putting down roots in the City of Brotherly Love and shifting into high gear.
After kicking off testing in Philadelphia earlier this year with a small fleet of vehicles and human safety drivers behind the wheel, the company has now moved into the next phase: autonomous testing ahead of a future public launch.
After “road trip” testing from summer through the fall, the company collected mapping data and evaluated how its autonomous technology, Waymo Driver, performs in new environments, including traffic patterns and local infrastructure.
Now the company has shifted to autonomous testing with specialists behind the wheel and will continue to validate the Waymo Driver’s capabilities in Philadelphia before moving to fully autonomous operations and allowing the public to take a ride in a driverless vehicle.
The company shared that it will also continue meeting with Philadelphia communities to learn more about how it can support the city’s transportation goals.
“With Waymo’s support, we can grow our programs and create more opportunities for friendship, jobs, and leadership development—helping build a more inclusive community for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities,” Best Buddies State Director for Pennsylvania Samantha Civitate said in a news release. “Accessible transportation remains a vital piece of fostering independence and inclusion.”
This new announcement comes just days after passengers in a robotaxi operated by Waymo were driven just a few feet away from a police stop in downtown Los Angeles.
During this incident, officials said the driverless vehicle made a turn onto the street and passed a truck that several police cruisers had pulled up with their lights flashing. The suspected driver of the car at the time was lying face down on the street.
However, since Waymo launched its services to the public in November of 2024, there have been other incidents, including when one of their vehicles made an illegal turn in front of officers who were conducting a DUI stop in San Francisco and and officers were unable to give a ticket because there was nobody to give a ticket to.
Google’s parent company, Alphabet, owns Waymo. It currently serves riders in Los Angeles, the San Francisco Bay Area, Phoenix, Atlanta, and Austin, according to its website.