Does Waymo plan to offer driverless cars in Denver even during winters?

While Waymo does not plan to launch driverless services until 2026, the company is preparing to make autonomous vehicles available to passengers during Denver’s winter months.

Google’s self-driving car project announced its expansion to Denver in September. Before making driverless cars publicly available, Waymo is mapping the city’s streets with drivers behind the wheel until they approve the technology for the city, a Waymo spokesperson said.

Waymo cars use cameras, radar and lidar — light detection and ranging that creates a 3D picture of the car’s surroundings — to navigate city streets.

Denver, averaging 57 inches of snow annually, is one of the first cities where Waymo cars could operate on snowy roads.

Though Waymo’s other locations — Los Angeles, San Francisco, Phoenix, Atlanta and Austin, Texas — don’t receive snow, it has tested cars in areas with heavy snowfall, including Truckee, California, which averages over 200 inches of snow per winter.