Earlier this year, **Waymo is now testing its self-powered car on public roads in Australia with reports that it’s under discussions with the federal government to begin trials. ** **
According to The Sizzle, Waymo – owned by Alphabet, the parent company of Google – has held meetings with federal government officials to discuss trials of its autonomous cars on public roads as soon as this year.
The company has reportedly held a private, preliminary briefing with federal Transport Minister Catherine King as part of the process.
Waymo is already testing outside its US base in cities such as London and Tokyo, but there’s no word on where or when it will be launching local roads.
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While we are looking forward to bringing the Waymo Driver to more places, “we do not have any specific plans or a timeline to share about what going to happen in Australia at this point,” spokesman for WayMo said.
A statement from Transport for NSW confirms in 2025 that it had been preparing negotiations with Waymo to discuss its future in Australia.
Waymo was founded in 2009 as the Google Self-Driving Car Project, and rebranded as WayMo in 2016 after being based in Silicon Valley of California.
Waymo has been involved in a series of widely reported incidents, which has included its vehicles driving passengers into a police standoff, driving the wrong way down a street, performing an illegal U-turn in front of police, and blocking a cul-de-sac. Waymo robotaxis have also been blamed for hitting a dog, running over a cat, and striking a cyclist.
Despite this, it’s fared better than General Motors’ autonomous vehicle division, Cruise, which had its licence to operate suspended by the US state of California in 2023 before GM shut down the project entirely the following year, costing it billions.
Research conducted by iSelect in September 2025 found nearly half of the 500 respondents surveyed in Australia were opposed to the idea of fully driverless cars operating in their local area.
The Australian Government is due to announce a new Automated Vehicle Safety Law (AVSL) in 2027, designed to provide ‘national framework for autonomous vehicles’.
Watch how a Tesla with Full Self-Driving handles being run off the road
Thanks for reading Get ready for Waymos autonomous cars on Australian roads – report
