Waymo is rolling out a major update that brings freeway travel to its robotaxi fleet and significantly expands its footprint in the San Francisco Bay Area.
On Wednesday the company announced that riders in San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Phoenix can now take driverless trips that include freeways, a first for the service as it moves beyond surface streets and smaller highways.
The upgrade means eligible trips will automatically use freeway routing “when a freeway route is meaningfully faster,” adding a major convenience boost for commuters and airport travelers alike. Riders will also begin to see the feature gradually open to more routes and markets over time.
The expansion arrives alongside a widened Bay Area service map that now reaches all the way from San Francisco down to San Jose, including curbside pickups at San Jose Mineta International Airport (SJC), Waymo’s second airport it services after Phoenix’s Sky Harbor Airport—currently its most popular destination in that region.
The newly expanded service area gets closer to the size of Tesla’s ride-hailing geofence, which also serves SJC as of last month.
Waymo highlighted that freeway access builds on “millions of miles logged on freeways” across its test programs, involving employees and select guests in Phoenix, San Francisco, and Los Angeles. That experience helped shape new operating protocols and closer coordination with state safety officials, including the California Highway Patrol and the Arizona Department of Public Safety.
The company says its robotaxis will typically travel at posted speed limits—often 65 mph (105 km/h)—but confirmed the vehicles may exceed that slightly in rare, safety-critical scenarios. Testing has also involved extensive simulation to prepare the Waymo Driver for unpredictable events such as merging aggression, lane-splitting motorcycles, or high-speed collisions.
Waymo has ambitious growth plans beyond California and Arizona. After launching in Austin earlier this year, the company expects to expand into Miami, San Diego, and New York in 2026, with public service planned for London next year and continued testing underway in Denver, Seattle, and Tokyo.
