Waymo Speeds Into More Cities!

Support CleanTechnica’s work through a Substack subscription or on Stripe.

Waymo is clearly at a big scaling-up phase of its life. I expected it to expand a lot in 2025 and 2026, but not as much as it is doing. This week, Waymo sped forward again with announcements of four more cities it is going to enter soon.

The cities Waymo just announced it is entering next are Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Baltimore, and St. Louis. Yes, places where it snows! That’s a pretty huge note.

Philadelphia

Regarding Philly, Waymo announced the news with the following:

“We’re making it official, Philly: Waymo will bring our service to the City of Brotherly Love!

“We’ve made great progress since arriving in Philadelphia this summer. After a period of manual testing, we recently shifted to autonomous testing with specialists behind the wheel, and we’ll continue to validate the Waymo Driver’s capabilities in Philadelphia before moving to fully autonomous operations and public launch in the future. We’ll also continue to meet with Philadelphia’s communities, and learn more about how we can support the city’s transportation goals.”

So, interestingly, there’s no timeline there. Apparently, the company feels good enough about Waymo Driver’s capabilities in the city that it is announcing it will provide service there, but there are enough question marks that it’s not telling us when. Hmm…

Interestingly, the company also highlighted the eagerness of a local organization that intends to use Waymo. “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,” said Samantha Civitate, Best Buddies State Director for Pennsylvania. “Accessible transportation remains a vital piece of fostering independence and inclusion.”

Pittsburgh

Nearby, in Pittsburgh, Waymo is also going to introduce service … at some point. However, it’s even a little behind in Pittsburgh compared to where it is in Philadelphia.

“We’re excited for residents and visitors in Pittsburgh to one day experience the safety, convenience, and magic of our technology firsthand. Pittsburgh is already home to several members of our team, and has a special place in autonomous vehicle history. The Carnegie Mellon Tartan Racing team won first place in DARPA’s Urban Challenge – the event that kicked off America’s pursuit of fully autonomous vehicles – and included multiple Waymo alumni who are continuing to lead the development of autonomous driving technology throughout the industry.

“This week, we’ll start manually driving in Pittsburgh’s downtown core with a fleet of our 5th and 6th generation Waymo Driver. We’ll validate our technology on Pittsburgh’s roads over the coming months as we work our way towards public launch in the future.”

It sounds like the company will launch in the city in 2026, but we’ll have to wait to see.

Baltimore

It’s a similar story as far as the launch in Baltimore, Maryland. Manual driving is just beginning, but the company intends to bring commercial service to the city soon.

“We’re heading to Baltimore, where we’ll work to bring the safety, convenience, and magic of our fully autonomous ride-hailing service to the city! We’ll work with state officials to create a regulatory path to deployment while we lay the groundwork for our service, and we’re looking forward to being a part of Charm City’s transportation system in the future.

“This week we’ll start manually driving in Baltimore as we get to know the city’s roads, meet Baltimore’s diverse communities, and ready our service for riders in the future. We’ll follow the same step-by-step approach we’ve taken in the five major cities that we currently operate, and work closely with state and city leaders to ensure our service supports a safe, accessible, and efficient transportation future for the city.”

Charm City! I didn’t even know that was the city’s nickname.

In this case again, Waymo has partnered to some degree with an organization looking for better mobility solutions. “We are excited that Waymo is expanding to the home city of our national headquarters, where thousands of blind people live as well as visit every year,” said Mark Riccobono, President of the National Federation of the Blind. “Waymo’s arrival in Baltimore will significantly strengthen our collaboration, because it gives our preeminent experts in nonvisual accessibility the chance to engage with this technology every day, bringing lived experience and high expectations to the table as we work to shape a future where blind people can fully and confidently participate.”

The company has also clearly been in tough with the state’s political leadership. “Maryland has a long, proud tradition of embracing innovation and driving discovery. This new partnership with Waymo marks the next chapter in that story–and it’s going to help spur growth, make our roads safer, and get more Marylanders from where they live to where opportunity lies,” said Governor Wes Moore. “Together, we will continue our push to make Maryland the best place in the world to change the world.”

Well, that’s a bit of a push. Best place in the world? Anyway, though, good to see the state embracing Waymo’s safety-enhancing robotaxis.

St. Louis

It’s a similar announcement about St. Louis, with Waymo just starting manual driving. In this case, for some reason, Waymo also noted which vehicle model will be on the roads there — the Jaguar I-PACE.

“Long known as the Gateway to the West, now St. Louis will serve as a gateway to the future of transportation, as we lay the early groundwork to offer our fully-autonomous ride-hailing service in the city!

“Starting this week, we’ll begin manually driving a fleet of our all-electric Jaguar I-PACE vehicles around the city, as we get to know the community and begin preparations to welcome public riders in the future. Our approach in St. Louis will be the same as a growing list of others Waymo now operates in – diligently following our safety framework as we validate our technology and deliberately scale our service over time. The data to date shows we are improving road safety where we operate, and we look forward to bringing our technology to Missouri.”

So, there we are — aside from operating in 5 cities at the moment, Waymo now has plans to enter the four cities above as well as San Diego, Tampa, Minneapolis, New Orleans, Miami, Dallas, Houston, San Antonio, and Orlando. Notably, though, these cities announced this week really enter snow land.