Waymo, under Alphabet (GOOGL.US), sets 2028 target to enter Singapore, opening a new battleground for autonomous driving.

Waymo plans to launch its Robotaxi service in Singapore in 2028, the latest in a series of domestic and overseas expansion moves by the Alphabet (GOOGL.US)-owned company. Waymo said it will deploy a fleet of Jaguar I-PACE electric vehicles to the Asian city-state in the coming months. Starting next year, its trained specialists will manually drive the vehicles to map and learn Singapore's road conditions and monsoon weather patterns, the company said in a statement late Thursday U.S. time. Waymo already offers paid services in 15 U.S. cities and has been preparing for overseas deployments, including London, Tokyo and Germany. It has also registered operating entities in France, the Netherlands and Spain, though it has yet to announce commercial plans. It recently began paid passenger rides in several markets, including Las Vegas this week and Denver, San Diego and Tampa, Florida earlier this month. When it opens its service to the Singapore public in 2028, Waymo plans to offer rides through its own consumer app. That differs from the approach of Chinese competitors such as WeRide and Pony.ai, which have launched small-scale services in Singapore through partnerships with local ride-hailing platforms such as Grab Holdings Ltd. and ComfortDelGro Corp Ltd. It is not yet clear whether Waymo will operate limited routes in Singapore similar to those offered by other Robotaxi providers. In its statement, Waymo said its service will complement the market's public transit network by bridging the "first- and last-mile" gaps between residential areas and commercial centers. A Waymo spokesperson said the company plans to manually map all areas of Singapore and collect the necessary data to apply to Singapore's Land Transport Authority for approval of its autonomous driving system in 2027.