Waymo picks Munich for first EU robotaxi service, targeting end of 2027

Munich is the first EU city where an American robotaxi operator has committed to a public driverless service, so how the Federal Motor Transport Authority handles Waymo's application sets a bar for other operators and other European capitals [2][9]. For now, riders there get cars with a person at the wheel, no published fleet size and no date tighter than the end of 2027 [3][5].

What Waymo actually announced

The sequence is the one Waymo has used in 11 US cities: manual driving to build high-definition maps, then supervised autonomous testing with trained specialists in the vehicle, then rides for the public booked through an app [4][6][9]. Waymo says its testing typically runs 24 hours a day, seven days a week, to confirm the system handles local road and traffic conditions [3].

Munich is Waymo's first EU market and its third outside the US, after London and Tokyo [3][5].

The first vehicles will be a small fleet of all-electric Jaguar I-PACE cars, and Waymo has not said how many it will deploy at launch [3][5]. For scale, the company runs more than 3,500 vehicles across 11 US cities and reports more than 500,000 paid trips a week [5]. It says it has completed more than 20 million trips in total [1][4].

Waymo also brought its safety case to Munich. It says data from more than 350 million fully autonomous kilometres shows 16 times fewer serious injury crashes than human drivers, 14 times fewer pedestrian injury crashes and six times fewer cyclist injury crashes [1][6]. Those figures are the company's own, and the comparison is against human drivers rather than against another robotaxi operator. The company announced in July that it would add four more US cities, San Diego, Las Vegas, Tampa and Denver, and has said it is working towards roughly 19 further US markets [1].

"Munich is a world-class hub for mobility and engineering, and becoming part of this city marks an important milestone in our global expansion," co-CEO Tekedra Mawakana said in the announcement [4][6].

The permit Waymo does not have

Waymo does not hold a permit from the Federal Motor Transport Authority (KBA), the body that issues type approvals for Level 4 systems in Germany, and without it there is no commercial service to book [2][9]. The company says it is working with the KBA, Bavarian authorities and Munich officials on the approvals it needs [3][5].

Germany wrote the legal framework for this in 2021, the first EU country to allow Level 4 driverless operation in defined areas [3][9].

Five years on, no German company runs a driverless commercial fleet at scale under that law [6]. Others are further along the paperwork: Mobileye and Volkswagen already hold German permits to test autonomous vehicles, according to KBA data cited by TechCrunch [2][9]. Most permits in the country, including those held by Wayve and Autobrains, are Level 3 rather than Level 4, which still expects a human to take over when needed [9].

London is the warning

Waymo announced London in October 2025 with a target of 2026, a runway of about fourteen months, close to the one it has now given itself in Munich [7]. Ten months later, London has not launched [7].

Roughly 100 Jaguar I-PACEs have been testing across about 100 square miles and 19 boroughs since the spring, with safety operators aboard throughout, and Waymo's UK page still describes autonomous specialists on board during early trials [7]. The obstacle has been regulatory. Transport for London warned in April that no autonomous vehicle then met its standards, and a freedom of information response dated 23 July confirmed TfL was still developing its approach to consent requests [7]. When TfL granted licences to Wayve's fleet on 5 August, it required a licensed human safety driver [7].

That is the precedent Munich riders should hold on to. A company can map a city, publish a date and still spend a year waiting on paperwork.

London is also getting crowded. Waymo has said it plans a commercial service there in 2026, against Wayve and its Uber partnership, and Baidu has started testing in the city through Lyft and Freenow [9].

Why Munich, and who is already there

Waymo registered Waymo Germany GmbH in Munich, with filings listing ride-hailing with autonomous vehicles as its stated purpose [2][5]. Reports differ on when: Zag Daily says May, BigGo Finance says June [3][5].

The company has also registered entities in France, the Netherlands, Spain and Switzerland, with no commercial plans announced for those markets [3][5].

It will not be alone in Munich. Uber said at the start of June that it had teamed up with Autobrains to launch a robotaxi fleet in the city [8]. Uber and WeRide have announced services in Madrid and Zurich, and Verne began a commercial driverless taxi service in Zagreb in April [8]. Waymo is pitching its own service as an addition to public transport: Chris Pappas, a Waymo spokesperson, told Zag Daily the company wanted to explore how autonomous mobility "can complement well-established public transport, cycling and pedestrian networks in Munich" [5].

What happens next

Vehicles will appear on Munich's streets in the coming weeks under manual control, followed by supervised autonomous testing with specialists aboard [4][6]. Waymo has not given a more specific launch date and says expansion will follow its safety and readiness processes [5].

It also declined to give a target for local job creation, saying its immediate focus is introducing the technology and building the workforce for German operations [5].

Berlin and Bavaria have been keen to claim the announcement. Christian Hirte, Parliamentary State Secretary at the Federal Ministry of Transport, said Germany had already put the legal framework in place and that Waymo "has now recognised Germany's potential as a location offering legal certainty" [4][7]. He said Waymo is planning to start regular commercial operation of autonomous vehicles on the German market for the first time [4][7].

Florian Herrmann, head of the Bavarian State Chancellery, said Bavaria would "cut red tape and remove regulatory barriers" to move from testing to deployment [4][6].

The next visible milestone is the mapping fleet. The commercial date is the end of 2027, and the permit is still outstanding.