Waymo Plans Munich Robotaxi Launch by Late 2027

Waymo has announced plans to launch a commercial robotaxi service in Munich by the end of 2027, marking its first move into the European Union. The company has already established a legal entity in Germany and will use all-electric Jaguar I-PACE vehicles. Whether it actually hits that date depends almost entirely on regulators it hasn't yet won over.

The three-step plan

Waymo's rollout follows the same template it used in Phoenix, San Francisco, and Los Angeles. First, vehicles drive the city manually to build high-definition maps. Then autonomous test drives begin with safety drivers on board. Finally, driverless runs open to employees and media before any paying passenger gets in the car.

The company says it is in talks with Germany's Federal Motor Transport Authority (KBA), the state of Bavaria, and Munich city officials. The catch: per TechCrunch, Waymo currently holds zero Level 4 testing permits in Germany. Mobileye and Volkswagen already have them. Germany passed Level 4 autonomous driving legislation back in 2021 — one of the earliest countries to do so — but a legal framework and an approved permit are two different things.

A tough regulatory debut

Europe is a different environment from the US, where Waymo runs more than 3,500 vehicles across 11 cities and handles around 500,000 paid rides every week. Munich is the company's first EU city, and the regulatory path is unproven at its scale.

The London picture adds reason for caution. Waymo has targeted 2026 for a commercial launch there, competing with Wayve, Uber, and others. But according to FutureSearch, that timeline looks highly improbable. Transport for London has mandated safety drivers for competing operators as recently as August 2026, and the full regulatory approval pathway now extends well beyond the year. A supervised phase could persist into 2027.

What it means

Munich is a prestige play — BMW's home city, an engineering hub, a market that signals credibility across Europe. But no pricing, no fleet size, and no confirmed permit timeline have been disclosed. If London 2026 slips, a Munich late-2027 target faces the same structural risk. Waymo's official blog post frames the announcement as a long-term commitment rather than an imminent launch — which, given where the permits stand, is probably the honest read.