April 10, 2026 - Waymo to Offer Pothole Data to Cities

This is the Telemetry Transportation Daily for April 10, 2026, and I'm Sam Abuelsamid, Vice President of Market Research for Telemetry.  Everyone who drives, especially in regions that are subject to winter weather, is familiar with the horror of potholes. Besides sending shockwaves through a vehicle, potholes can cause expensive damage to tires, wheels, and suspension components if drivers are unable to avoid them. If drivers do see the potholes and attempt evasive maneuvers, it can sometimes lead to loss of control or collisions. 

Ride-hailing and robotaxi companies have long had fraught relationships with the communities they operate in. But as Waymo expands its services, it is attempting to give back to communities in a small way. In collaboration with fellow Alphabet-owned navigation company Waze, Waymo will be providing data on road conditions through the Waze for Cities platform. Since its debut more than 15 years ago, Waze has enabled users to report road hazards to other users by tapping the screen on their phones. That functionality has since been expanded to Google Maps. Waymo will now do this automatically. 

Detecting potholes can be challenging for drivers, especially if it's raining and the pothole is full of water or at night. However, the lidar sensors on robotaxis like those from Waymo can easily detect these under most conditions and provide a precise location back to Waze, which can be used by cities as well as other road users. Waymo and Waze plan to launch this effort with pilots in the first five cities where Waymo debuted: San Francisco, Los Angeles, Phoenix, Austin, and Atlanta. As someone who lives in Southeast Michigan, now that Waymo is actively testing in Detroit, this service would be much appreciated and should help city crews find and fix potholes that infest this region faster.

Thanks for listening.