Alphabet’s autonomous-vehicle unit Waymo has begun allowing teenagers aged 14 to 17 to hail its driverless Waymo One taxis without an accompanying adult, starting this week in the Phoenix metropolitan area. The programme marks the first time the company has formally opened its service to unaccompanied minors. Parents must invite their children through an existing Waymo account, after which the teens can book rides, share real-time trip status and generate receipts that are automatically sent to guardians. Waymo said specially trained rider-support agents will monitor journeys around the clock and can bring parents into calls if necessary. Until now, customers needed to be at least 18 years old to ride alone, and California still bars unaccompanied minors from autonomous vehicles, delaying similar access in San Francisco and Los Angeles. The move mirrors Uber’s introduction of teen accounts in 2023 and underscores Waymo’s push to broaden ridership as it scales commercial robotaxi operations. The company says it is providing more than 250,000 paid trips each week across Phoenix, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Atlanta and Austin and plans to extend the teen programme to additional U.S. cities outside California as local rules permit.