By Sabela Ojea


Waymo said its self-driving taxis would be available to customers in Miami beginning in 2026 as the Alphabet unit steps up its expansion.

The company on Thursday said it would bring its Waymo One cars to Miami in early 2025, and would start offering rides in 2026 through a new fleet partnership with vehicle-financing company Moove.

"Together, we will provide safe, seamless trips for riders, and scale faster and more cost-effectively over time, with safety continuing to lead the way," said Ryan McNamara, vice president of operations at Waymo.

Waymo's self-driving cars already provide 150,000 trips a week across Austin, Texas; Los Angeles; San Francisco; and Phoenix, the company said. Last summer, Waymo was doing 10,000 paid rides a week, rising to 50,000 a week in May.

"We've been at this for a long time--15 years in the rearview mirror--and we've hit this point of acceleration," Waymo co-CEO Tekedra Mawakana said in a recent interview with The Wall Street Journal. Waymo doesn't publicly report financial details, including whether it is profitable.

The announcement on the expansion came about two months after Tesla Chief Executive Elon Musk unveiled two planned new vehicles as part of a massive bet on robotaxis, which highlighted how late the company was to the autonomous-vehicle race, leaving the door wide open for Waymo and ride-booking leaders Uber Technologies and Lyft, according to analysts.


Write to Sabela Ojea at sabela.ojea@wsj.com


(END) Dow Jones Newswires

12-05-24 1014ET