Tekedra Mawakana, co-CEO of Waymo, and Jeffrey Siow, Singapore’s Minister for Transport, with an autonomous Jaguar I-PACE. Credit: Waymo Waymo plans to launch its first commercial robotaxi service in Southeast Asia in 2028, starting in Singapore. The vehicles will arrive well before then, and there will be a year of preparation and testing. According to the company, the rollout will happen in three stages.
First, all-electric Jaguar I-PACE vehicles will arrive in Singapore in the next few months. Until 2027, the cars will be driven manually as Waymo adapts its system to local roads and the region’s monsoon weather. Public rides through the Waymo app are set to begin in 2028. Much of this adaptation focuses on improving the vehicle’s sensors.
Waymo says its custom lidar, radar, and cameras allow for 360-degree detection of pedestrians, cyclists, and active mobility users. This last group is especially important on Singapore’s roads compared to most American streets where Waymo currently operates. Waymo is working with the Ministry of Transport and the Land Transport Authority for this launch. “Singapore welcomes Waymo’s entry as our newest autonomous vehicle operator,” said Jeffrey Siow, the Minister for Transport. He added that the company brings world-class technology and operational expertise to Singapore. “Singapore has built one of the safest, most efficient, and most forward-thinking transportation ecosystems in the world.
Their focus on reliability, sustainability, and human-centric progress directly mirrors how we have built Waymo’s technology and service,” said Tekedra Mawakana, Co-CEO of Waymo. She said Singapore’s focus on reliability, sustainability, and human-centered progress matches Waymo’s approach to technology. The company plans to have trained autonomous specialists in Singapore and create skilled operational jobs, but did not specify how many. Waymo is positioning its service to complement, not compete with, Singapore’s rail and bus network.
The company aims to fill the gap in first- and last-mile trips. In San Francisco, more than a third of Waymo riders already use the service to connect to mass transit. The fleet is entirely electric, which Waymo estimates prevents roughly 480 tonnes of CO2 a week at its current scale. The record it brings with it runs to more than 20 million fully autonomous rides and over 300 million fully autonomous kilometers.
Across its US operating cities, the company reports a 94% reduction in injury-causing crashes compared with human drivers. Several of the questions an operator usually answers went unanswered. Waymo did not disclose a fleet size, a fare structure, service hours, or which parts of the island it would cover at launch. For now, the commitment is a date, a shipment of cars, and a year spent learning to drive in the rain.
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