Waymo is bringing its robotaxis to Chicago and Charlotte as part of its push to continue scaling autonomous vehicles. Starting today, the company will begin manual mapping and early data collection to lay the groundwork for operations in those cities. Waymo typically enters a new city by first conducting months of manual driving and mapping to understand local road conditions, traffic patterns, and edge cases. This process precedes a gradual introduction of autonomous testing and eventually fully driverless operations.
While Charlotte, with its suburban-style layout and mild weather, may present an easier use case, Chicago’s harsh winters, heavy traffic, and dense urban complexity would pose a greater challenge for Waymo. Operating successfully in Chicago would strengthen Waymo’s case that its system is nationally scalable. It also gives the company another opportunity in a northern city after New York dropped a proposal that would have allowed commercial robotaxi pilots in parts of the state.
This news comes the same week Waymo began offering commercial driverless operations in Dallas, Houston, San Antonio, and Orlando, bringing its total number of operational cities to ten. Aside from Chicago and Charlotte, Waymo is also testing and planning to launch in Denver, London, and Washington, D.C., among other locations. The Alphabet-owned autonomous vehicle company earlier this month secured sixteen billion dollars in funding to support its international expansion efforts.