Charlotte blends its historic charm with North Carolina’s economic dynamism. Uptown – the city’s sports hub – is surrounded by vibrant neighborhoods, from South End with its breweries and restaurants to the arts of NoDa. The Queen City is constantly redefining itself, and it’s this same forward-looking culture that makes us thrilled to announce Waymo’s intention to bring our safe, magic, fully autonomous ride-hailing to Charlotte, North Carolina.

“Wherever North Carolinians are traveling, safe and reliable transportation is essential,” said North Carolina Governor Josh Stein. “We are eager to see how Waymo’s expansion into Charlotte can increase accessibility, modernize transportation, and create safer roads.”

“Charlotte is a world-class city that embraces innovation and the opportunity to move forward,” said Charlotte Mayor Vi Lyles. “This announcement reflects our tireless dedication for expanded mobility, and we believe Charlotte is an excellent choice for Waymo’s next destination.”

Our generalizable Waymo Driver is informed by its experience over 200 million fully autonomous miles and more than 20 million rides served. While every city has its own character and traffic quirks, the Waymo Driver is able to safely handle a diverse and growing number of new environments. At the same time as it delivers a more reliable and trustworthy mobility option for communities across the U.S., the data from 127 million miles of fully autonomous driving shows the Waymo Driver was involved in 10x fewer serious injury or worse crashes and 12x fewer pedestrian injury crashes compared to human drivers where we operate.

“For people who are blind or have low vision, reliable transportation isn’t just a convenience — it’s access to employment, education, healthcare, and community life,” said Sandi Owens, President of the North Carolina Council of the Blind. “The arrival of Waymo’s autonomous vehicle testing in Charlotte represents an exciting step toward expanding safe, independent mobility options. Technology like this has the potential to reduce barriers, increase flexibility, and give people greater control over when and how they travel. We’re excited to partner with Waymo as this technology is introduced in our community.”

We’re excited for our service to complement Charlotte’s transportation system, and to learn more about how we can support the city’s goals. Ready to experience Waymo in Charlotte? Sign up for updates and be among the first to ride when we’re ready: waymo.com/updates.