FILE PHOTO - A self-driving car made by Google's sister company Waymo on the road for a test drive. (is associated with: «Waymo announces 2027 launch of driverless taxis in Munich») Andrej Sokolow/dpaWaymo, a Google subsidiary, announced in a blog post on Tuesday that it plans to launch a regular driverless transport service for the public in the southern German city of Munich by the end of 2027.Munich will thus become the first city where the provider is active within the European Union.The first vehicles are expected to be seen on Munich's roads as early as the coming weeks. During this trial phase, the vehicles plan to map the road network and will initially still be driven by trained specialists behind the wheel, to adapt the driving system to the specific characteristics of local traffic.AdvertisementAdvertisementThe company is working with the German Federal Motor Transport Authority as well as the relevant state and local authorities to obtain the necessary legal approvals.Germany laid the legislative groundwork for driverless road transport in everyday life back in 2021.Waymo points to extensive experience from the United States, where the ride-hailing service is currently in operation for the public in Atlanta, Austin, Dallas, Houston, Los Angeles, Miami, Nashville, Orlando, Phoenix, San Antonio and the San Francisco Bay Area.The company says the vehicles there have already covered over 350 million kilometres without human control and completed more than 20 million paid journeys.AdvertisementAdvertisementWaymo states that the system is significantly safer on the road than humans behind the wheel; Based on its own surveys, the company reports a fraction of the number of accidents involving serious injuries, as well as incidents involving pedestrians and cyclists.