SELF-DRIVING taxis are set to soon hit Spanish streets after Google’s sister company Waymo revealed plans to begin testing the technology in Madrid.
The robotaxi giant, which like Google is owned by parent firm Alphabet, established a Spanish branch on the capital’s glitzy Calle Serrano on July 17.
Waymo has also set up bases in other European countries – including Germany, France and the Netherlands – as robotaxis begin to spread around the world, with the technology already available in the US.
The new Spanish company is called Waymo Iberia SL and was set up with €100,000 in capital, according to Spanish company records.
Its stated business activities include ‘passenger transport using autonomous vehicles’, with tests in Madrid poised to begin before the end of the year, according to company sources.
Waymo has yet to announce a firm launch date for its Spanish service, however, and the cars will need approval from Spain’s Directorate-General for Traffic (DGT) before they can begin carrying passengers.
Waymo already runs a fleet of self-driving robotaxis across several US cities, including San Francisco, Los Angeles and Phoenix, with passengers able to hail a car without a human driver behind the wheel.
The company says its vehicles have now driven tens of millions of miles autonomously on public roads.
Rival robotaxi services, including one run by Tesla, are also springing up worldwide, with the technology spreading as far as China and the Middle East.
Spain is already preparing for the arrival of driverless cars, with the DGT establishing a framework to allow on-road testing of automated vehicles across the country.
The most advanced stage of the DGT’s framework will allow more than ten automated vehicles to operate simultaneously, potentially paving the way for large-scale robotaxi trials.
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