Alphabet’s Waymo (NASDAQ:GOOGL) is significantly increasing the coverage of its autonomous vehicle service in Austin, Texas, expanding from 37 to 90 square miles, the company revealed on Thursday.
This expansion is designed to bolster Waymo’s foothold in the Austin market amid rising competition from players like Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA). The newly included service zones now cover neighborhoods such as Crestview, Windsor Park, Sunset Valley, and Franklin Park.
Currently, Waymo operates a fleet of over 100 self-driving cars through Uber’s (NYSE:UBER) platform in Austin. The company has solidified its reputation as a pioneer in the self-driving taxi sector after steadily growing across various U.S. cities. Waymo’s autonomous fleet totals around 1,500 vehicles, running in key markets including San Francisco and the Bay Area, Los Angeles, Phoenix, Atlanta, among others.
Tesla has also entered this market, running a small pilot last month involving roughly a dozen Model Y SUVs within a limited section of Austin. Nonetheless, Tesla faces considerable obstacles in scaling its autonomous driving technology and complying with regulatory demands.
Technologically, Tesla’s approach diverges from Waymo’s and many competitors’. Tesla’s system depends solely on cameras and AI, forgoing sensors like radar and lidar.
“Austin remains one of the fastest growing cities in the country, and we are doing our part to grow with it,” said Shweta Shrivastava, senior director of product management at Waymo.
Notably, earlier this week, Waymo celebrated a milestone, having driven 100 million miles without human intervention—doubling its autonomous mileage tally in just about six months.
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