SAN FRANCISCO, Jan. 29 (Xinhua) -- Waymo plans to start testing autonomous vehicles (AVs) in 10 new cities this year, starting with Las Vegas and San Diego, The Verge reported on Wednesday.
The Alphabet-owned company told The Verge it will send less than 10 AVs to each city, where they will be manually driven.
Waymo is already operating a commercial robotaxi service in Phoenix, San Francisco, and Los Angeles, with plans to launch in Austin, Atlanta, and Miami this year.
The company has not confirmed if it will test a robotaxi service in any of the cities this year. Usually, Waymo sends a limited human-driven fleet to test across a broad range of city and driving conditions to get a sense of how its system adapts to new environments, according to the report.
In 2024, Waymo tested its vehicles in Michigan and upstate New York to try its technology in harsher winter conditions.
"So what we're looking for is places that are going to challenge our system and look very, very different," said Nick Rose, product manager for Waymo's expansion efforts. ■