Waymo, the self-driving car company backed by tech giant Alphabet (GOOGL), is now testing its technology in Philadelphia as it looks to expand into the northeastern U.S. This testing will run from summer through fall 2025 and will involve a small number of manually driven vehicles with safety drivers inside. These cars will collect data across different neighborhoods to see how Waymo’s self-driving system handles local streets and traffic conditions, and will use this info to help it decide if Philadelphia could eventually support a full ride-hailing service using self-driving cars.
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This expansion comes as Waymo currently tests in New York City, where its vehicles are also being manually driven while the company maps out key areas like Manhattan, Brooklyn, and nearby parts of New Jersey. These tests are part of Waymo’s “road trip” program, which evaluates how well its technology performs in various city environments. So far in 2025, Waymo has added cities like Las Vegas, San Diego, Boston, Houston, and Orlando to this program. In addition, it has already launched a commercial service in Atlanta and now delivers more than 250,000 paid rides each week in cities such as San Francisco, Phoenix, Los Angeles, and Austin.
Waymo’s move into busy cities like Philadelphia shows how fast autonomous vehicle (AV) testing is growing in complex urban areas. Furthermore, for local car dealerships, this could lead to major changes in the future. Indeed, as AVs gain traction, dealers might see more demand for fleet sales, and there could also be changes in the types of vehicles in demand. Interestingly, though, it is worth noting that while Waymo brought in $1.65 billion in revenue last year, it also posted a $4.44 billion loss. As a result, that financial pressure makes it even more important for the company to scale into a profitable business.
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