Waymo is accelerating its autonomous vehicle expansion with human-supervised test drives launching this week in Baltimore, Pittsburgh and St. Louis. The Google sister company now operates or tests in 26 markets, signaling growing confidence in cold-weather performance as competition from Amazon's Zoox and Tesla intensifies the robotaxi race.
Waymo just dropped another expansion bombshell. The Alphabet-owned autonomous vehicle pioneer announced Wednesday it's starting human-supervised test drives in Baltimore, Pittsburgh and St. Louis this week, pushing its total market footprint to 26 cities as the robotaxi wars reach fever pitch.
"We'll begin manual drives in the trio of new cities this week with hopes to eventually begin serving fully-autonomous rides there," spokesperson Ethan Teicher told CNBC. The move represents Waymo's most aggressive expansion yet, coming just weeks after announcing similar testing plans for Minneapolis, Tampa and New Orleans.
The timing isn't coincidental. Amazon's Zoox launched free rides in Las Vegas and San Francisco this year, while Tesla rolled out human-supervised robotaxi service in Austin and San Francisco. The competition is forcing Waymo to accelerate its geographic expansion at breakneck speed.
Waymo's November announcement blitz revealed the company's true ambitions. Beyond the three cities starting testing this month, Houston, San Antonio and Orlando are slated for 2026 launches. The company also began offering freeway rides in San Francisco, Los Angeles and Phoenix - a technical milestone that puts pressure on competitors still confined to city streets.
The numbers tell the expansion story. With more than 250,000 weekly paid trips across current markets, Waymo operates commercially in Austin, the San Francisco Bay Area, Phoenix, Atlanta and Los Angeles. The company hit 10 million total paid rides since launching in 2020, giving it the deepest operational experience in the industry.
But the new cities signal something bigger than just geographic expansion. Baltimore, Pittsburgh and St. Louis represent growing confidence in cold-weather performance - historically one of autonomous driving's biggest challenges. Snow, ice and reduced visibility have long been the Achilles heel of self-driving systems, making these northern markets crucial proving grounds.
