Autonomous ridesharing firm Waymo has announced a plan to scale its fleet by investing in a new factory near Phoenix, Arizona.
An Expansion Course
According to Waymo, its public ride-hailing service for autonomous taxis—Waymo One—provides more than a quarter of a million paid trips weekly. Currently available in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Phoenix, and Austin, the company says demand warrants expansion to other cities. With Atlanta, Miami, and Washington, D.C. on tap for Waymo One by 2026, Waymo hopes to produce more vehicles to grow its available fleet.
Manufacturing Investments
Waymo has announced an investment in domestic manufacturing in support of this goal. The plant, located in metro Phoenix, will integrate the Waymo Driver autonomous vehicle platform into thousands of Jaguar I-PACE sedans. By partnering with automotive manufacturing company Magna International, Waymo hopes to double robotaxi production at the plant by the end of next year. At 239,000 square feet, the factory will support a few hundred additional jobs in the Phoenix suburb of Mesa.
Design Supports Growing Ridership
Vice President of Operations for Waymo, Ryan McNamara, calls the plant “the epicenter of our future growth plans,” partly due to its flexible design. The company says it will be able to integrate the new-gen Waymo Driver on new vehicle platforms and, eventually, add automation to build at higher volumes.
Waymo believes the vehicles’ capabilities will make them “rider-ready” immediately upon leaving the facility. This is based on improvements to its validation process that increase the speed and efficiency with which the tech company can send vehicles out the door and directly into service.
Image credit: Waymo
