Reported Madrid authorization covers 16 Waymo test vehicles through 2028

Madrid has reportedly authorized Waymo to test 16 robotaxi vehicles for two years, from Oct. 19 through Oct. 18, 2028. The authorization is for testing, not commercial passenger rides, according to Telemadrid reporting summarized by Neoteo.

The reported permit adds a defined fleet size and validity period to Waymo’s Madrid preparations, which this publication covered Oct. 20. Waymo has said it aims to welcome its first riders in the Madrid region in 2027, but has stressed that it is not yet offering commercial trips.

The company’s rollout is due to begin with manual driving in electric Jaguar I-PACE vehicles, followed by validation driving with trained local specialists at the wheel. It then plans autonomous driving with validation drivers before fully autonomous operations. Initial testing is expected in Madrid City, Alcobendas and Getafe, and Waymo says its vehicles may operate day and night, typically around the clock.

The tests are intended to gather data allowing the Waymo Driver to adapt to Spanish road conditions, signs, traffic patterns, road geography, lane discipline and right-of-way rules. Waymo says it is also engaging national, regional and local authorities, local partners and emergency services while building local operations.

Spain’s Directorate-General for Traffic, or DGT, defines automated vehicles as those designed to travel autonomously for certain periods without continuous driver supervision. The agency says public-road research tests assess a vehicle’s technical behaviour in traffic and the feasibility, safety, mobility or traffic flow of operating it in a particular environment.

A DGT test authorization does not itself permit a company to charge passengers for driverless trips, Xataka reported. That would require separate passenger-transport authorization. Xataka also reported that unsupervised driving would not arrive in Spain in the short or medium term.

The Waymo approval is one of two separately reported Madrid test programs. The other covers 20 vehicles associated with Uber, WeRide and AVOMO from Sept. 4 through Sept. 3, 2028.

Waymo says it has driven more than 400 million kilometres on U.S. public roads, completed more than 20 million trips and serves hundreds of thousands of commercial rides each week. The company said its Driver has been involved in 95% fewer crashes involving serious injury or worse than human drivers over equivalent distances in the U.S. cities where it operates commercially.