WAYMO

For steering robotaxis into the fast lane

- HARRY MCCRACKEN

NESTLED AMONG MUNDANE BUSInesses (a refrigerated truck company, a door installation service, a drywall distributor), it seems wholly unremarkable—at least until you notice that the white Jaguar I-Pace electric SUVs that keep pulling into its parking area don't have anyone in their drivers' seats.

They're Waymo autonomous cars—often called robotaxis—and the building is their depot. On this quiet Friday morning, dozens are on the premises, a meaningful chunk of the city's fleet of more than 300. Many are merely charging up for their next tour of duty. Others are cleaning their own sensors, emitting faintly comical squirting and huffing sounds as they do. And some, needing tire repair or replacement parts, are here to get attention from a Waymo mechanic. When each car is ready to hit the road again, it sees itself out, deftly veering around any humans who may cross its path.

Not long ago, this scene would have been the stuff of science fiction. Most places, it still is. But in the three cities where Waymo achieved full commercial deployment in 2024—San Francisco, Phoenix, and Los Angeles—summoning a robotaxi from your smartphone is rapidly losing its futuristic tinge. Yes, it's still novel. But it's also workaday transportation.

It was hardly preordained that this day would come. The company's origins date to 2009, when Google hatched an improbable self-driving car venture. It quickly became the flagship initiative at Google X, an entire arm devoted to launching audacious “moonshots.” And in 2016, the business was spun into Waymo, a stand-alone unit of Google's parent company, Alphabet.