Waymo to Launch Autonomous Ride-Hailing in Madrid Next Year

3-line summary

• Alphabet's self-driving unit Waymo plans to launch a fully autonomous ride-hailing service in the Madrid area in 2027, its first operation in Spain; electric Jaguar I-PACE vehicles will appear on Madrid roads within days, operated by trained specialists until autonomous operations begin, under Spain's transport authority (DGT) autonomous-testing framework.
• Waymo currently operates in more than 15 US cities, with more than 500,000 paid rides per week and over 20 million cumulative paid rides; the company says its data from over 400 million autonomous miles shows 95% fewer serious-injury-or-worse crashes than human drivers, citing its own analysis.
• Waymo also plans to launch in London this year, in Tokyo in 2027 with partners Nihon Kotsu and GO pending regulatory approval, and in Toronto in 2028 with Element Fleet Management; Spain's DGT last month granted the country's first national autonomous-testing permits to WeRide and Uber, with commercial service in Madrid expected to begin later this year from those operators.

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