Taking riders further, safely with freeways (waymo.com)

Waymo announced that it’s opening freeway driving to public riders across the San Francisco Bay Area, Phoenix and Los Angeles, while expanding Bay Area coverage down the Peninsula to San Jose with curbside service at San Jose Mineta International Airport. The company says freeway trips are being rolled out to more riders over time and will expand freeway capabilities to cities such as Austin and Atlanta, with sign-ups open for early access. This is a notable deployment milestone for autonomous driving: Waymo points to millions of real-world freeway miles logged with employees and guests and extensive testing and operational preparation to handle highway dynamics—merges, lane changes, higher-speed traffic and longer trips. The announcement stresses collaboration with safety officials and staged rollout to ensure reliable service. For the AI/ML community, this signals matured perception, prediction and planning stacks being validated at scale on complex roadway environments, enabling more efficient routing (including airport runs) and broader geographic coverage while highlighting continued emphasis on safety and controlled expansion.