By Joe Lovinger, Bloomberg
Alphabet Inc.’s Waymo will start offering commercial robotaxi service in the three biggest cities in Texas, pushing ahead with its aggressive expansion plan after a recent setback in New York.
The rollout of rides with no safety driver will begin Tuesday in Houston, Dallas and San Antonio, Waymo said in a statement. Operations will be initially be limited to zones of between 25 and 60 square miles (65 to 155 square kilometers), depending on the city.
The debut advances Waymo’s goal of starting service this year in more than 20 cities, from overseas capitals such as London and Tokyo to US locations including Nashville. Even as the company expands its footprint, it suffered a blow last week when New York Governor Kathy Hochul pulled a proposal to allow driverless rides in the state outside New York City, citing a lack of support among stakeholders including lawmakers.
In Texas, Waymo began offering autonomous rides last year in Austin through the Uber Technologies Inc. app.
Around the same time, Elon Musk’s Tesla Inc. launched a ride-hailing service in the city, where it is headquartered, with vehicles using the company’s automated-driving technology. Most of the Tesla cars in Austin have human safety monitors who sit in the front passenger seat, although the company said in January that it has “a few” without people in them.
In Houston, Dallas and San Antonio, Waymo will start by inviting “select riders” from the tens of thousands of people in those cities who have downloaded its app. Additional riders will be then invited as the company readies service for all later this year. Waymo has been testing service in those cities for months.
The coverage areas will be smaller than in markets such as San Francisco, where Waymo has operated for longer and now offers rides across 260 square miles.
In Houston, service will run inside the Loop, a 38-mile (61-kilometer) highway encircling downtown. Dallas rides will span 50 square miles across downtown and its surrounding neighborhoods, while San Antonio’s map will cover 60 square miles including tourist destinations such as the Alamo.
Waymo will also begin offering rides in Orlando, its second Florida market. It started in Miami in January. Tekedra Mawakana, Waymo’s co-chief executive officer, called the new cities “critical to our plans” for growth.
The company will be managing its own fleet and depot operations during the initial launch period in the three Texas cities and Orlando, a spokesperson said. Later this year, Avis Budget Group Inc. will take over responsibilities including managing, servicing and dispatching the Dallas fleet as part of an earlier announced deal.
Waymo may work with one of its existing fleet-management partners to service the fleet in the other three cities in the future, the spokesperson added. Uber-backed Moove currently runs fleet operations for Waymo in Miami and Phoenix. Another Uber-backed entity, Avomo, does that work in Austin and Atlanta, a city that’s also covered by the Uber app arrangement.
–With assistance from Kara Carlson and Natalie Lung.
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