Waymo’s New Freeway Service, CFO Hire & San Diego-Detroit-Las Vegas Expansion

Alphabet-owned self-driving car company Waymo has been leading the robotaxi race in the United States, having deployed across the streets of 5 major cities in the country—San Francisco, Los Angeles, Atlanta, Phoenix, and Austin.

Now, the company is expanding its reach by bringing Waymo robotaxis to freeways.

Waymo’s robotaxis will initially run on freeways across the San Francisco Bay Area, Phoenix, and Los Angeles. The company plans to expand freeway availability capabilities to Austin, Atlanta, and beyond over time, but didn’t provide an exact date for deployments in these cities.

In California, Waymo’s freeway services will be available across the entire Peninsula, stretching from San Francisco to San Jose, and will include curbside service at San Jose Mineta International Airport (SJC).

Waymo says it has engaged in comprehensive testing and closely collaborated with safety officials to ensure the new service can offer users safe and reliable experiences.

Users interested in accessing the new freeway service can sign up to be among the first to access Waymo freeway trips. However, access is currently limited to users who have opted to test new features.

The move will be welcomed by users who feel that Waymo trips can take longer due to restrictions on using freeways and highways, and opting to use local roads. The company hopes this move will allow for better ratings, as using freeways can result in 50% faster trips.

“Freeway driving is one of those things that’s very easy to learn, but very hard to master when we’re talking about full autonomy without a human driver as a backup,” said Dmitri Dolgov, co-CEO of Waymo, “And at scale. So it took time to do it properly with a strong focus on system safety and reliability.”

The introduction of the freeway service comes just after Waymo welcomes a new CFO—Steve Fieler—who will join the company in the coming weeks.

Fieler brings with him over 30 years of experience, having previously been a key member of Google’s CFO leadership team, as well as Business Finance Officer for Google's Platforms and Ecosystems unit. He was also a CFO at HP.

“As we scale our ride-hailing service in the U.S. and around the world, Steve’s leadership and experience will help ensure we have rigor to support this ambitious growth. We look forward to officially welcoming him to the Waymo team in December,” said Waymo’s co-CEO, Tekedra Mawakana.


In the realm of robotaxis, Alphabet-owned self-driving car company Waymo has been making big strides by expanding its robotaxi services to new cities and even new countries!

Last month, Waymo revealed that it had expanded to London in partnership with Moove, a move that followed tests conducted in Japan.

While these countries may have to wait a while for public access to Waymo’s robotaxis, cities across the U.S.—and the company recently announced a bunch of new cities it’s heading to.

Waymo is heading to Detroit, Michigan, AKA “Motor City,” bringing its autonomous ride-hailing services to “the city that put the world on wheels.”

The company plans to deploy test vehicles to map out the city and familiarize its systems with the city’s streets, having previously tested across the state. This includes testing in Detroit’s snowy and icy winter and Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. However, that’s not the only connection with the state, as Waymo has had an engineering team for many years, located in the city of Novi.

Returning to Las Vegas, Nevada, Waymo said it’s bringing “the safety, reliability, and magic” of its autonomous ride-hailing service from next summer (mid-2026).

As per Waymo, Nevada is the sixth most dangerous state to drive in, where Las Vegas accounts for 43% of the state’s yearly collisions. It serves as an ideal place for the company to deploy its services, which boasts 5x safer operating than human drivers. Additionally, Waymo already has experience in the state, which is similar to the cities in which it currently operates.

Waymo will also soon deploy in San Diego, California, a city that the company feels its Waymo Driver system is easily adapting to.

In the city, Waymo is “partnering with local teams, training first responders, and deepening community relationships,” as it awaits permits to operate its fleet in the city. The company aims to begin operating its fleet in the city next year.

Do you think its expansion plans will help Waymo maintain a leading position in the robotaxi realm?

Let us know in the comments below!