Waymo’s latest expansion strategy: teenagers

Waymo 的最新扩张策略：瞄准青少年群体

Waymo will allow teenagers as young as 13 to use its robotaxi service in Nashville as the Alphabet-owned company looks to scale its business by reaching a new group of riders. Nashville is the second city to offer Waymo teen accounts; the company kicked off its teen account program in Phoenix last year. Waymo 将允许年仅 13 岁的青少年在纳什维尔使用其自动驾驶出租车服务。这家隶属于 Alphabet 的公司正试图通过触达这一新的乘客群体来扩大业务规模。纳什维尔是第二个提供 Waymo 青少年账户的城市；该公司去年在凤凰城首次推出了青少年账户计划。

And more cities are likely to follow, according to the company. A Waymo spokesperson told TechCrunch that its expansion to Nashville will be the “first of many” teen launches across multiple markets that use the Waymo app in the coming months. The spokesperson said it will offer teen accounts in cities where its operations are mature and local regulations allow it. 据该公司称，未来可能会有更多城市跟进。Waymo 发言人告诉 TechCrunch，此次向纳什维尔的扩张将是未来几个月内，在多个使用 Waymo 应用的市场中推出的“众多青少年服务中的首个”。该发言人表示，公司将在运营成熟且当地法规允许的城市提供青少年账户。

Nashville is a relatively new market for Waymo, although it has support from local leaders to offer the service to teens. The company launched its service in a 50-square-mile area of Nashville in April 2026, and earlier this month, its robotaxis became available on the Lyft app. 对于 Waymo 而言，纳什维尔是一个相对较新的市场，尽管它已获得当地领导层的支持，可以向青少年提供该服务。该公司于 2026 年 4 月在纳什维尔 50 平方英里的区域内推出了服务，并于本月初将其自动驾驶出租车接入了 Lyft 应用。

Waymo’s ridership has skyrocketed over the past two years — a trajectory largely driven by the rapid succession of new markets. Paid robotaxi trips grew tenfold from 50,000 per week in May 2024 to more than half-a-million per week earlier this year. Over that same time span, Waymo has launched robotaxi services in a dozen cities. In the past month alone, the company opened robotaxi services in Denver, Las Vegas, San Diego, and Tampa. 过去两年，Waymo 的乘客数量呈爆炸式增长，这一轨迹在很大程度上是由新市场的快速连续扩张所推动的。付费自动驾驶出租车行程从 2024 年 5 月的每周 5 万次增长了十倍，达到今年早些时候的每周超过 50 万次。在同一时期，Waymo 已在十几个城市推出了自动驾驶出租车服务。仅在过去一个月内，该公司就在丹佛、拉斯维加斯、圣地亚哥和坦帕开启了自动驾驶出租车服务。

The company’s introduction of teen accounts provides another means of growth — this one targeted at a demographic that relies on parents or public transit to get to school, work, or activities. There are few limits to the service. The teen account must be connected to a parent or guardian, but once activated, teens can hail autonomous rides anywhere in Waymo’s service area in Nashville — and bring their friends along. 该公司推出的青少年账户提供了另一种增长途径——旨在针对那些依赖父母或公共交通工具上学、工作或参加活动的群体。该服务几乎没有限制。青少年账户必须与父母或监护人的账户关联，但一旦激活，青少年就可以在纳什维尔 Waymo 服务区域内的任何地方呼叫自动驾驶车辆，并可以带上朋友同行。

Waymo told TechCrunch that teen account holders can bring up to three guests ages 13 to 17. The company didn’t share how these ages would be verified. That kind of access could certainly invite chaos — it’s not hard to imagine four 16-year-old kids unleashed in a robotaxi. But it may also be part of the appeal for parents who would rather their kids pile into a Waymo than in a vehicle driven by a teenager. Waymo 告诉 TechCrunch，青少年账户持有者最多可以携带三名 13 至 17 岁的同伴。该公司并未透露将如何核实这些年龄信息。这种准入权限当然可能会引发混乱——不难想象四个 16 岁的孩子在自动驾驶出租车里会是什么样。但这对于那些宁愿让孩子乘坐 Waymo，也不愿让他们乘坐由青少年驾驶的车辆的父母来说，可能也正是其吸引力的一部分。