Sept 14 (Reuters) – Alphabet’s self-driving unit Waymo said on Monday it will offer rides to the general public in Las Vegas, marking its first foray into Nevada, as it expands its robotaxi service in more U.S. states.
Waymo, which was valued at $126 billion in February when it raised $16 billion, has been growing its robotaxi fleet as it competes with Amazon’s Zoox and Tesla in the self-driving vehicle market.
Here are more details:
• Waymo will invite public riders to use its services in Las Vegas as it starts off with a few dozen vehicles, with plans to scale over time.
• Zoox was the only robotaxi operator in the city offering paid rides to the public after it began commercial operations last month.
• Las Vegas is Waymo’s first public robotaxi market in Nevada, adding to its push beyond its established operations in California, Texas, Florida and Arizona.
• Earlier this month, Waymo had announced plans to expand in Denver, San Diego, and Tampa.
• The Las Vegas service uses Waymo’s sixth-generation self-driving system in the Ojai, its robotaxi built on a Zeekr vehicle platform.
(Reporting by Abhirup Roy in San Francisco and Prathik Jayaprakash in Bengaluru; Editing by Diti Pujara)
