Photo by Waymo
Alphabet-owned autonomous driving specialist Waymo is preparing to bring its fully autonomous ride-hailing service to Munich, marking the company’s first planned commercial robotaxi operation in the European Union. The first vehicles are expected on Munich’s streets within the coming weeks, while a public commercial service is targeted for late 2027.
The initial phase will look considerably less futuristic: Waymo vehicles will first be driven manually through Munich to create high-definition maps of the local road network. This will be followed by testing with trained autonomous specialists behind the wheel. Only after this validation phase – and subject to the necessary regulatory approvals – does Waymo intend to move towards fully driverless operation.
For Munich, the decision is significant. Germany created a legal framework for Level 4 autonomous driving several years ago, but commercial driverless mobility services have yet to reach significant scale. Waymo’s entry could therefore become an important test of how quickly the regulatory framework can translate into everyday autonomous mobility.
“Munich is a world-class hub for mobility and engineering, and becoming part of this city marks an important milestone in our global expansion,” said Waymo Co-CEO Tekedra Mawakana. The company plans to establish local fleet operations and create highly skilled jobs as it prepares for the launch.
The move has also received political backing. Christian Hirte, Parliamentary State Secretary at Germany’s Federal Ministry of Transport, sees Waymo’s decision as confirmation of Germany’s attractiveness as a location for autonomous mobility. At the same time, he stressed the importance of Europe not merely using autonomous technologies, but developing and operating them itself.
Bavaria also wants to accelerate the transition from testing to deployment. Dr. Florian Herrmann, Head of the Bavarian State Chancellery, pointed to the region’s combination of automotive manufacturers, suppliers, research institutions, start-ups and a growing AI ecosystem.
Waymo enters Munich with substantial operating experience. According to the company, it has already completed more than 20 million trips and serves hundreds of thousands of commercial rides per week. Waymo also cites data from more than 350 million fully autonomous kilometres showing significantly fewer serious-injury, pedestrian and cyclist crashes than human-driver benchmarks. These figures are based on the company’s own safety analysis.
The Munich project will now show how well the Waymo Driver can adapt to German traffic conditions – and whether one of the world’s most established robotaxi systems can make the jump from large-scale US operation to everyday mobility in Europe.
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