Waymo
The company running driverless taxi services
United States Robotics Closed
WHAT IT IS
Waymo traces back to the self-driving project Google started in 2009 and became an Alphabet company in 2016. It runs driverless taxi services in several cities, with its Waymo Driver system operating without a safety driver in defined areas.
Why it matters
It moved driverless driving from testing to real commercial passenger operations, making it one of the main forerunners of autonomous driving deployed at scale on public roads.
Key milestones
- 2009
Started as Google’s self-driving project
- 2016
Became the Alphabet company Waymo
- 2018
Launched the Waymo One rider service in Phoenix