Waymo expands to Denver and Seattle with its Zeekr-made vans

Waymo announced Tuesday that it’s going to bring both of its vehicles — the Jaguar I-Pace SUV and the Zeekr van — to Denver and Seattle starting this week, the latest move in a continued expansion across the United States.

The vehicles will be manually driven to start, before the company starts testing its autonomous tech in both cities. Waymo told TechCrunch that it hopes to start offering robotaxi trips in Denver next year and the Seattle metropolitan area “as soon as we’re permitted to do so.” Denver and Seattle will be two of the most extreme-weather cities that Waymo is feeling out, giving it a chance to test out its tech in snow, wind, and rain that is harder to come by in places like Phoenix.

The new cities join a growing list of places where Waymo is operating in the U.S. Just last week the company announced that it has more than 2,000 robotaxis in its commercial fleet countrywide, with 800 in the San Francisco Bay Area, 500 in Los Angeles, 400 in Phoenix, 100 in Austin, and “dozens” in Atlanta. Waymo has also announced plans to launch a commercial robotaxi services in Dallas, Miami, and Washington, D.C., next year, and recently received a permit to start testing in New York City.

That’s not to mention the other cities where Waymo has dipped its toes. It’s brought vehicles on “road trips” to places like Philadelphia, and plans to do the same in Las Vegas, San Diego, Houston, Orlando, and San Antonio.