Waymo Partners With Via to Add Robotaxis to Phoenix Suburb’s Public Transit

Riders in Chandler, Ariz., will be able to hail an autonomous vehicle this fall, with multiple riders sharing cars on routes tailored to passenger demand.

A self-driving Waymo car awaits riders in Los Angeles on July 1, 2025. John Fredricks/The Epoch Times

Residents of Chandler, Arizona, will soon be able to skip waiting at bus stops for public transit and instead hop into driverless taxis.

Autonomous driving technology company Waymo announced on Sept. 18 that it had formed a partnership with public transportation technology company Via to introduce Waymo’s autonomous ride-hailing services to Chandler’s Flex microtransit service.

The suburb southeast of Phoenix is the first city to assimilate Waymo’s ride-hailing service into its public transportation network, the companies said.

Daniel Ramot, co-founder and CEO of Via, said that public transportation riders and the local government agencies that manage them are too often at the tail end of newer transportation technologies such as autonomous driving vehicles.

“This partnership with Waymo paves the path for AVs to become accessible to millions of global public transit riders, enhancing mobility, lowering operating costs, and improving safety outcomes,” Ramot said.

The deployment, launching in Chandler this fall, allows users to hail rides from autonomous vehicles through the city’s Chandler Flex microtransit services, which use smaller automobiles to move people throughout the city rather than large buses. Chandler Flex will leverage Via’s algorithms to aggregate multiple riders into a single vehicle, which creates a more flexible public transit system with routes that can be adapted in real time to passenger demand, the companies said.

The partnership between Via and Waymo—a wholly owned subsidiary of Alphabet—blends Via’s routing technology with Waymo’s self-driving cars to understand the unique needs and travel requirements of each rider, which ensures that robotaxis are properly deployed on each trip, Via said. The program in Chandler also provides a framework for other U.S. cities to emulate and assimilate into their public transit networks, the company added.

Chandler Mayor Kevin Hartke said the city has long been a hub of innovation—Intel has developed and manufactured microprocessors at its sprawling Chandler campus since 1980.

“We’re proud to be the first city to bring Waymo’s AVs into our public transit network,” Hartke said. “Chandler Flex has already provided nearly 120,000 rides to residents, and extending our partnership with Via and Waymo ensures we continue to expand mobility options and lead with forward-looking solutions for our community.”

Waymo already operates in parts of Phoenix, San Francisco, and Los Angeles. It partnered with Uber to launch autonomous ride-sharing services in Austin, Texas, in March, followed by Atlanta in June. Via’s technology, meanwhile, is deployed in public transportation systems in hundreds of cities and more than 30 countries, it said.

Annabel Chang, Waymo’s director of U.S. state and local public policy, said the company remains committed to expanding mobility access in public transportation systems.

“Our partnership with Via enables us to contribute to a shared transportation program that is already helping Arizonans travel more conveniently and affordably,” Chang said. “We’re grateful to play a part in reimagining transportation systems in ways that are more sustainable and accessible to all.”

It’s the second partnership announced by Waymo just this week. On Sept. 17, the company announced a partnership with Lyft to bring autonomous ride-hailing services to Nashville.