Autonomous vehicle operator Waymo is temporarily pausing its freeway service in Phoenix and other cities to address issues navigating construction.
鈥淲e are committed to being good neighbors for our riders and our communities,鈥 Sandy Karp, a spokesperson for Waymo, said in an email. 鈥淎s part of that commitment, we make proactive decisions including temporarily pausing aspects of our service. We know riders count on us to get around, and we appreciate their patience as we work to get them where they鈥檙e going safely and reliably.鈥
According to a statement provided by the company, Waymo saw a need to improve performance around freeway construction zones and is pausing freeway service to address it. The company is aiming to restore freeway service as soon as possible, but did not provide a timeline.
No reported Arizona incidents were related to Waymo vehicles鈥 performance around freeway construction zones.
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Autonomous vehicle operator Waymo is temporarily pausing its freeway service in Phoenix and other cities to address navigation issues.
Waymo began testing cars on metro Phoenix freeways in January 2024, before the Arizona Department of Transportation finished its four-year, $833 million Broadway Curve project on the part of Interstate 10 that runs past Sky Harbor International Airport and parts of Tempe. Waymo did not carry customers on freeways until November, five months after the freeway widening project ended.
Waymo has been operating on freeways for several years, including with safety drivers and employee-only rides, but began offering autonomous freeway service to the public in Phoenix in November 2025. Prior to the pause, it offered freeway service in Phoenix, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Miami.
According to data collected through a standing general order through the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, there have been four incidents involving Waymo vehicles on or near freeways in the Valley since it began offering the service.
Two included collisions with trash cans that had been hit by other vehicles and were sent into the Waymo vehicles. In one of those incidents, the Waymo had a safety driver inside who took over and operated the vehicle in manual mode.
One was a crash between other cars that caused a car to collide with a Waymo vehicle, and the Waymo vehicle to collide with a stopped truck. A passenger in the Waymo reported minor injuries.
The fourth was a collision involving an SUV rear-ending a Waymo vehicle that had slowed to queue to get onto a freeway entrance ramp.
