Waymo prepares Munich, its first market in the European Union

The Alphabet subsidiary is starting mapping the city with safety drivers, aiming for a commercial service open to the public at the end of 2027.

Waymo announced on August 25 that it plans to launch an autonomous transportation service in Munich, the company's largest market in the European Union. The vehicles will begin to circulate in the coming weeks with trained safety drivers on board, the time to finely map the road network and adjust the software to local traffic habits.

The announced schedule is similar to that of American deployments: manual mapping, driver-based testing, driverless journeys reserved for employees and the press, limited opening to the public, then commercial operation — this last step remaining suspended from local, regional and federal authorizations. Waymo is targeting the end of 2027 and already operates eleven other cities.

Germany offers a relatively favourable legal ground: in 2021, the country was the first in the EU to adopt a framework authorising driverless vehicles on public roads at level 4, with approval being the responsibility of the Federal Transport Authority (KBA). However, most of the players present there only have level 3 approvals. Munich joins London, Tokyo and the Wayve-Uber or Baidu-Lyft-Freenow projects on the European robotaxi front.