Waymo, the self-driving taxi company, said on Tuesday, Oct. 20, that it is laying the groundwork for a fully driverless ride-hailing service in Spain, beginning with the Region of Madrid, and aims to welcome its first riders there in 2027. Madrid's region is the first place in Spain Waymo plans to serve. "Madrid is an incredible capital of innovation and an integral part of our growing global presence," said Tekedra Mawakana, Waymo's co-chief executive.
The cars will not drive themselves at first. Waymo says that in the coming days its electric Jaguar I-PACE cars will appear on the region's streets with a person driving. It says it will drive in several towns across the region, including the city of Madrid, Alcobendas and Getafe. Then come rigorous tests with trained local specialists behind the wheel, which Waymo says will help its self-driving system adapt to the region's traffic and road conditions.
Spain's traffic authority, the Directorate-General for Traffic, runs a program that lets companies test self-driving vehicles on public roads before they go into service. Its list of approved tests shows a nationwide permit for Waymo to test 16 robotaxis from Oct. 19, 2026 to Oct. 18, 2028. Under the program, a car may test without a safety driver on board only in the last stage before service, and even then a safety operator must watch over it remotely. The same list shows that Avomo Cars, which the list links to WeRide and Uber, has held a permit for 20 robotaxis since Sept. 4, 2026.
Waymo says it is working with national, regional and local authorities, showing emergency services how its cars work, and investing in local operations. It says it has completed more than 20 million trips and gives hundreds of thousands of paid rides each week. It also says its own data, from more than 400 million kilometers of driving with nobody at the wheel, shows that compared with human drivers in the cities where it operates, its cars were involved in 95% fewer crashes that seriously injured or killed someone.
Waymo has not said what rides will cost, how many cars it will run in the region, which areas paid rides will cover, or when its cars will start driving with nobody at the wheel. It has also not said which further approvals it needs before it can carry paying riders.