Waymo To Begin Testing Robotaxis In Seattle, Denver

Alphabet Inc.’s (GOOG, GOOGL) Waymo was in the spotlight after the company announced it would begin testing its autonomous vehicles in Denver and Seattle as it prepares to expand its services to more cities across the country.

The company expects to begin serving riders in Denver next year. “We’ll arrive with a mixed fleet of Jaguar I-PACE with the 5th-generation Waymo Driver and Zeekr RT vehicles equipped with our 6th-generation Waymo Driver,” the company said about its testing in Denver in a blog post.

TechCrunch reported on Tuesday that the vehicles will be manually driven initially, before the company begins testing its autonomous technology in both cities. Waymo plans to offer robotaxi trips in the Seattle metropolitan area “as soon as we’re permitted to do so,” the company told TechCrunch.

On Stocktwits, retail sentiment around GOOGL jumped from ‘bullish’ to ‘extremely bullish’ territory over the past 24 hours, while retail chatter rose from ‘normal’ to ‘extremely high’ levels.

Waymo currently has commercial operations in Austin, Texas, as well as Atlanta, San Francisco, Phoenix, and Los Angeles. Customers in these cities can either take a robotaxi ride via the Waymo One app or through Uber. The company is also planning to expand its services to Dallas, Miami, Washington, D.C., and New York City. It recently received a permit to start testing its robotaxis in New York.

According to a report by CNBC, Waymo will initially deploy up to a dozen cars each in Denver and Seattle for testing purposes.

GOOGL stock is up by 21% this year and by about 45% over the past 12 months. 

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