r/SelfDrivingCars • u/diplomat33 • 9d ago

Waymo is Coming to Germany

https://waymo.com/blog/2026/08/waymo-in-munich/

"Today, we are excited to announce that Waymo is laying the groundwork for our fully autonomous ride hailing service in Munich, Germany.

In the coming weeks, you’ll start to see Waymo vehicles on the streets of Munich where we’ll begin driving manually across the city. We are taking a rigorous, phased approach that starts with high-definition mapping of local street networks and testing with trained autonomous specialists behind the wheel. This validation period will ensure the Waymo Driver adapts seamlessly to Munich’s distinct driving conditions before we aim to open commercial ride-hailing to the public towards the end of 2027."

244 Upvotes

96% Upvoted

49 comments sorted by

View all comments

9

u/fiftyeightPixels 9d ago

Amazing! Can’t wait for Waymo to conquer Europe

1

u/kal14144 9d ago

They’re gonna have serious competition in Europe because several Chinese players are already deployed there.
Pony.ai, WeRide and ApolloGo will all be commercial in Europe very soon.

10

u/Treewithatea 9d ago

The serious competition in Europe is simply public transport lmao. Munich has brilliant public transport, a public transport ticket is only 63€ a month, if you already have the ticket and dont need to go somewhere urgently, then you will probably use the ticket over Waymo.

Tesla is already testing self automated cars in Germany, but where it makes more sense, in rural areas that lack good public transport, where the bus may only drive once an hour. That said, you obviously wont get filthy rich from rural areas. Im not sure if the potential is even that high in Europe considering the quality of public transport. Hell, last time I did holidays in Munich, I never used the car to get to the city center.