Google's self-driving unit has landed a dedicated parking spot in the Phoenix office market as ramps up operations nationwide.
Waymo, the tech giant's autonomous driving company, opened a dedicated outpost in Tempe, Arizona, as it expands its service in the region and prepares to launch its driverless cars in other cities, including Denver, Chicago and Las Vegas. The company signed a sublease for more than 40,350 square feet in the Grand II building earlier this year, a move Waymo said will anchor its future growth plans.
"The Valley is where Waymo first launched its fully autonomous ride-hailing service, and the community here has been foundational to our growth over the last decade," a Waymo spokesperson told CoStar News. "Opening our first dedicated office space in Phoenix is a natural next step [that] deepens our investment in the region and allows us to continue building on the thousand jobs we've proudly created here."
Waymo will backfill the space DoorDash had been trying to offload for a couple of years. The delivery service provider fully leased the 358,800-square-foot building at 1033 W. Roosevelt Way in 2019 — the same year construction on the building was completed — but similar to other companies in the earlier years of the pandemic, put large blocks of space on the sublease market as they fine-tuned their real estate footprint.
And while DoorDash tried to downshift its space, Waymo has been quick to take on more.
The self-driving unit initially launched in the Phoenix area in 2018, and its cars now flood the city and surrounding suburbs as its service has quickly gained popularity.
With roots in the San Francisco Bay Area, Waymo cars are now driving or will soon hit the streets in Austin and Houston, Texas; Chicago, Illinois; Denver, Colorado; Miami, Florida; Nashville, Tennessee; Seattle, Washington; and elsewhere. All told, the company is planning to expand its coverage to more than 1,400 square miles spread across at least 11 cities in the United States, marking a nearly 30% increase from its previous coverage and more territory than the entire state of Rhode Island.
Waymo's presence in the Phoenix market alone covers more than 315 square miles.
Along with plans to launch in new cities, Waymo unveiled initiatives this month to expand its service in existing hubs, deepening its stake in markets such as Phoenix that could also materialize into future real estate investments.