Waymo To Expand Ride-Hailing Service To Miami

Alphabet’s Waymo self-driving division has confirmed the expansion of its driverless robotaxi service, known as Waymo One, to the city of Miami.

The firm announced the move on Thursday, and said that “Waymo’s autonomous driving technology offers an opportunity to provide safer, more accessible, all-electric mobility to Miami’s residents and tourists.”

Waymo has spent most of 2024 expanding its service in certain locations in America, citing “growing demand”.

Miami expansion

Last month Waymo fully opened its Waymo One service to any resident in Los Angeles, offering fully autonomous rides 24/7 from “Santa Monica, Hollywood Boulevard, USC, and everything in between.”

Waymo had actually begun offering a limited commercial operation in Los Angeles in March 2024, and soon had more than 300,000 people sign up for the Waymo One waitlist.

Then in November it finally opened the service to all LA residents.

Waymo is following a similar pattern with the expansion to Miami.

“In early 2025, we’ll begin reacquainting Waymo’s all-electric Jaguar I-PACEs to Miami’s streets,” it stated. “Through our new fleet partnership with Moove, a global leader in innovative mobility solutions, we’ll work to open our doors to riders in 2026, offering our ride-hailing service via the Waymo One app.”

The expansion into Miami demonstrates Waymo’s growing confidence in operating its self-driving vehicles in harsher and more unpredictable weather conditions compared to the more predictable weather found in California and Arizona.

Waymo noted that its previous road trips dealing with Florida’s “challenging rainy conditions have been invaluable in advancing our autonomous driving capabilities and we’re honoured to return and bring our service – which already provides over 150,000 trips per week across Phoenix, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Austin – to the people of Miami.”

Moove partnership

It said it will first collaborate with its fleet partner Moove in Phoenix, where it begin taking on the management of Waymo’s fleet operations, facilities, and charging infrastructure.

“This strategic partnership is designed to maintain and enhance the clean, consistent experience that our riders have come to expect and rely on. In both Phoenix and eventually Miami, Waymo will continue to offer our service through the Waymo One app, and remain responsible for validation and operation of the Waymo Driver,” it stated.

“We are excited to partner with Moove in Phoenix and later Miami, bringing together their mobility-focused fleet management experience with our growing Waymo One service,” said Ryan McNamara, VP of operations at Waymo. “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.”

“Ride hailing has transformed urban mobility over the past 15 years, yet the core experience has largely remained unchanged,” said Ladi Delano, Co-founder and Co-CEO at Moove. “Waymo’s safe, reliable, and convenient Waymo One service leads in autonomous technology, and together, we’re driving a major shift in urban mobility. Moove is proud to partner with Waymo, bringing the operational expertise to make this transformation possible.”

“Fully autonomous driving technology offers a safe and convenient option to the people of Miami. I’m so pleased to welcome Waymo to our city,” added Francis X. Suarez, Mayor of Miami. “Waymo’s commitment to sustainability with their all-electric fleet is the perfect mobility option to our city as we continue to prioritize low cost, clean energy.”

Robotaxi competition

Google had begun developing self-driving technology back in 2009, and after almost two years of road testing with seven vehicles, officially revealed the project to the world in October 2010.

In 2016 Alphabet spun out the self-driving operation and created Waymo, signalling that the company was ready to forge a commercial roadmap with its autonomous car technology.

Waymo first launched its ride-hailing service in 2017 in Phoenix, and in 2020 introduced fully autonomous public rides, serving hundreds of rides weekly.

But whilst Waymo is one of the leading players in the driverless robotaxi sector – it is not alone.

GM’s Cruise is one of its closest competitors, and is teaming up with ride-hailing giant Uber to offer its autonomous robotaxi vehicles on Uber’s platform.

Waymo also has forged a similar alliance with Uber to utilise its robotaxi in Atlanta and Austin, Texas next year.

Tesla is seeking to launch a rival “Cybercab” service by 2026, but analysts doubt its ability to compete with Waymo, despite Elon Musk hoping to gain the needed regulatory clearances to operate in Texas and California by next year.

Meanwhile another robotaxi service, Amazon’s Zoox, is hoping to begin offering driverless rides to the general public in Las Vegas at some point next year before also launching in San Francisco