Waymo said it plans to launch a robotaxi service next year in Dallas, the latest city to be added to the Alphabet-owned company’s growing commercial footprint that already includes Los Angeles and San Francisco.
This time around, Waymo is partnering with Avis Budget Group to manage its fleet of all-electric autonomous Jaguar I-Pace vehicles. Avis will handle general depot operations, including charging and maintaining the vehicles. Users will be able to hail a robotaxi through the Waymo app.
Waymo has partnered with other companies before, including Uber in Austin and Atlanta and Moove in Phoenix. Avis is the first rental car company to help Waymo manage its fleet. And it’s a partnership that will likely extend to other cities in the future.
Waymo spokesperson Chris Bonelli said Avis will play a large in role helping the company scale its technology to new markets faster and more cost-effectively. He added that Waymo and Avis Budget Group intend to expand to more cities together over time.
Close followers of Waymo may not be surprised by the Dallas launch announcement. Earlier this year, Waymo took one of its “road trips” to Dallas, where the company used its sensor-laden vehicles to map the city and conduct initial testing. Since then, Waymo has started testing its autonomous vehicles on public roads with a human safety operator behind the wheel. As it has in every other city it has launched in, Waymo will progress to fully autonomous testing once its tech has been further validated on Dallas streets.
Bonelli wouldn’t disclose precise launch dates or how many vehicles would be in the initial robotaxi fleet. He did say Waymo will scale the fleet with Avis to hundreds of vehicles over time.
Avis Budget Group CEO Brian Choi said the partnership marks a “pivotal milestone in its evolution, from a rental car company to a leading provider of fleet management, infrastructure and operations to the broader mobility ecosystem.”
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Today, Waymo operates commercially in five cities: Austin, Atlanta, Los Angeles, Phoenix, and the San Francisco Bay Area, which extends into Silicon Valley. The company plans to launch its commercial robotaxi service next year in Washington, D.C., and Miami.