Waymo

Waymo is an autonomous driving company under Alphabet that operates a fully driverless ride-hailing service. It traces its roots to the Google self-driving car project that began in 2009, and its stated mission is to be the world's most trusted driver. Its website claims the world's first autonomous ride-hailing service and says more than 20 million rides have been served. In October 2026 it named Toronto as its first Canadian city, with passenger rides planned for 2028.

What it does

Waymo builds the Waymo Driver, the self-driving system, and runs the ride service on top of it. Riders book through the Waymo app, and the service runs day and night in the cities it covers. The company's history on its site runs from the first fully self-driving ride on public roads in Austin, through the first public trial in Metro Phoenix, to an all-electric fleet built around the Jaguar I-PACE and, more recently, a new vehicle called the Ojai. It says its system had a 92 percent reduction in reported serious-injury-or-worse crashes compared with human drivers over the same distance where it operates, a figure from its own analysis.

Who it serves

The service is open to the public in the San Francisco Bay Area, Los Angeles, Phoenix, Austin, Atlanta and the other US cities its website lists. In some cities it works through partner platforms: Uber carries Waymo rides in Austin and Atlanta, and DoorDash delivers with Waymo in Phoenix. Fleet partners such as Flexdrive and Moove handle depots and maintenance, and in Tokyo Nihon Kotsu and GO manage the fleet and drive manually to map the city. In Toronto the fleet partner is Element Fleet Management.

Key facts

Parent: Alphabet Origin: Google self-driving car project, 2009 People: Tekedra Mawakana, co-chief executive Rides: more than 20 million served, by its own account Vehicles: Jaguar I-PACE and the Ojai Next market: Toronto, with first riders planned for 2028