Photo Credit: Ceri Breeze / Shutterstock.com
Waymo has named Singapore as its next international destination.
Public access is set for 2028. Waymo said it plans to carry paying passengers in the country by that year through its own app, after a long stretch of groundwork and street mapping across the island nation.
The rollout starts within the coming months. That is when Waymo’s first Jaguar I-PACE vehicles will arrive in the country to prepare for future operations. Then comes the mapping. Throughout 2027, company specialists will drive those cars by hand along the country’s roads, charting every route to build the detailed data foundation the system depends on.
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Waymo will also tune its technology for local conditions. The company plans changes to account for Singapore’s road geometry and weather patterns. Singapore becomes Waymo’s second international market after Tokyo. The company began testing its driverless cars in the Japanese metropolis in 2025, making it Waymo’s first location outside the United States.
The Tokyo timeline runs ahead. Just days before the Singapore announcement, Waymo confirmed it was preparing for commercial availability there in 2027. In Tokyo, the plan looks broader. The company will offer rides through both its own app and the GO Taxi app widely used across the city, giving it access to an established local ride-hailing audience.
Both Japan and Singapore share a distinct market condition for autonomous vehicles: robust public transportation networks built around buses and trains. Rather than competing head-on with those systems, Waymo is positioning its service for first-and-last-mile connectivity, the segment of a journey between a rider’s origin or destination and the nearest transit hub.
The company sees particular value for two groups. People who do not live near subway stations are one. Those racing to reach a station in time to catch the next train are the other. Waymo is staggering its Singapore entry across several phases. Vehicle arrivals this year. Mapping through 2027. Public rides in 2028. We are keeping an eye out for further detail on fleet size and coverage areas as the mapping phase gets underway.