Waymo has confirmed the acquisition of a large self-driving test facility in Arizona for $220 million. Maricopa County filings show that the asset was previously held by Route 14 Investment Partners LLC, which has ties to Apple, and the transaction was registered on June 5.

The site is significantly larger than existing test sites.

The test site, located near Wittman, Arizona, covers approximately 5,500 acres. Public information indicates that it includes a 115-acre urban road test area, a 35-acre vehicle dynamics test area, a 4-mile oval track, and a highway section specifically built for autonomous driving testing.

Waymo told TechCrunch that the facility will be used to simulate different driving scenarios in a controlled environment to continuously test and improve the performance of its autonomous driving system. Its uses include driverless passenger testing, motion control testing, operational training processes, and future expansion of testing capabilities.

Apple used it in its car manufacturing project.

Apple acquired the property in 2021 for $125 million, having leased it for several years. Previously, it served as Fiat Chrysler's vehicle testing facility, used for testing complete vehicles and components in high-temperature environments, and featured various road surfaces and a high-speed circular track.

Within Apple, this site served as the location for Project Titan, a car development project used for prototype testing. The project was terminated in early 2024, after Apple had invested billions of dollars in it.

In conjunction with fleet expansion and the introduction of new models

Waymo is currently accelerating the expansion of its robotaxi fleet. The company recently began offering its first passenger service with the new Zeekr model and stated that it hopes to deploy tens of thousands of robotaxi vehicles annually in the future, including Zeekr vehicles and Hyundai Ioniq 5s.

The Zeekr vehicles will first be sent to Waymo's factory in Arizona to have their autonomous driving system installed. This acquisition of a larger, closed testing ground will help Waymo complete more scenario validation, operator training, and system calibration before mass production.

Waymo's ties with Phoenix and Maricopa County continue to deepen. The company began testing its self-driving technology in Chandler, a Phoenix suburb, as early as 2017, subsequently developing it into the first commercial robotaxi market. Since then, Waymo has expanded its operations to more than 10 cities across the United States, including Los Angeles, the San Francisco Bay Area, Austin, and Atlanta.