Waymo’s Next Target: Singapore
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Waymo has expanded its robotaxi service across the United States quite significantly in 2026. It’s not yet covering a huge portion of the population, but it’s operating in more than a dozen major cities already. As it expanded further and further in the US, though, I started wondering how hard it would be for the company to grow into other countries and how much it would try to do so.
Now, however, we’ve got news of it moving into the UK, into Germany, into Japan next year, and the latest news is its next foreign target: Singapore.
The Singapore launched isn’t around the corner. It’s planned for 2028, not next year. However, that also shows us the deliberate, careful approach Waymo takes and its long-term planning. And does anyone doubt Waymo will actually launch service in the unique island city-state in 2028?
Why announce this so early? Well, as just noted, Waymo has a careful and methodical approach to entering new markets, and Waymo vehicles will start arriving in Singapore in coming months to start autonomous vehicle testing, mapping, etc.
Singapore is a highly regulated place, but it’s also a super innovative country that likes to be at the forefront of technology and public policy. In a previous life when I was in the city & regional planning field, Singapore was a hotshot that got a lot of attention for its approach to planning, technology, and transportation. The government will, without a doubt, be very involved in Waymo’s testing and rollout, but it will also be keen to be ahead of the curve in this field.
“Singapore has built one of the safest, most efficient, and most forward-thinking transportation ecosystems in the world,” Waymo co-CEO Tekedra Mawakana notes. “Their focus on reliability, sustainability, and human-centric progress directly mirrors how we have built Waymo’s technology and service.”
“Waymo will need approval from Singapore’s Land Transport Authority (LTA) before it can begin accepting passengers. The city-state requires all autonomous vehicles to undergo a safety assessment conducted at the Centre of Excellence for Testing and Research (CETRAN) before they can be deployed on public roads,” The Verge shares. “The tests have been developed by LTA and CETRAN, with input from the Traffic Police. But Waymo isn’t totally unknown in Singapore. The company established a corporate entity there earlier this year and participates in Singapore’s Steering Committee on Autonomous Vehicles.”
Note that we’ve previously covered autonomous bus, autonomous shuttle, other autonomous shuttle, and autonomous streetsweeper progress in Singapore, among plenty of other cleantech matters.
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