Seattleites could see Waymo’s white, sensor-laden robotaxis cruising city streets as soon as this week.
But autonomous-vehicle fans should hold back their excitement, and those who fear robot cars can temper their anxiety for now. The Waymo vehicles will be driven by humans and will not be picking up passengers yet.
Waymo announced Tuesday that it’s bringing its vehicles to Seattle and the Eastside suburbs to begin testing and data collection in preparation for eventually operating its driverless taxi service in the region as it currently does in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Atlanta, Austin and Phoenix. Waymo is the autonomous-vehicle subsidiary of Google’s parent company Alphabet Inc.
In Seattle, Waymo drivers will travel around the Downtown core as well as in the Chinatown-International District, Central District, Queen Anne and U District to “give the vehicles context for where they’ll operate,” according to Waymo spokesperson Sandy Karp.
Waymo will also have drivers operating in Kirkland and Bellevue. The company previously tested its vehicles in the two Eastside cities to train them on driving in hilly, rainy conditions.
Eventually Waymo vehicles will begin operating autonomously with a human driver still behind the wheel as a precaution. Doing so requires a permit from the city.
Seattle has granted testing permits to Amazon’s Zoox AV company and NVIDIA, though according to the city, NVIDIA has suspended testing. General Motors’ Cruise subsidiary had been testing its vehicles with drivers in Seattle, but the company shuttered its AV project in 2024.
Waymo intends eventually to have fully autonomous robotaxis on Seattle streets, which will require permits from the city and the state, but Karp said there is no timeline for that to happen.
Neither Seattle nor Washington has yet allowed fully autonomous vehicle operations, and Geekwire reports the state is still working to create its framework for permitting commercial AV operations.
Seattle’s Department of Transportation (SDOT) declined an interview request, but emailed a statement about its AV protocols and philosophy:
“The City of Seattle supports innovation that makes transportation safer, more efficient, and more accessible. … As Waymo begins manual data collection on Seattle’s streets, we look forward to continuing these partnerships to ensure future services meet our transportation goals,” the email states.
In addition to requiring a driver behind the wheel for AV testing, SDOT mandates that AV companies submit safety plans and coordinate with emergency responders. The city is also testing technology that shares real-time 911 data with internet-connected vehicles to help them avoid emergency sites.
