Waymo has arrived in Philly.

But you can’t catch a ride in one of their driverless cars just yet.

Philadelphia is one of more than 10 cities where human autonomous-technology experts will be taking Waymos on summer “road trips,” allowing the cars “to get to know the city,” spokesperson Sandy Karp said in a statement.

The testing fleets are closed to the public.

For now, Waymo specialists will be manually “driving through the most complex parts of the city, including downtown and freeways,” Karp said. “Folks will see our vehicles driving at all hours throughout various neighborhoods, from North Central to Eastwick, and from University City to as far east as the Delaware River.”

The announcement comes at a time when the future is uncertain for public transit and traditional rideshare options in Philadelphia. SEPTA is preparing to cut nearly half its service by January, and recent complaints about Uber availability after Phillies games have raised questions about its reliability.

Waymo, owned by Google’s parent company, Alphabet, alluded to the move in an X post that attempted to appeal to Philadelphians with some questionable references.

“This city is a National Treasure,” read the Monday post on X, formerly known as Twitter. “It’s a city of love, where eagles fly with a gritty spirit and cheese that spreads and cheese that steaks. Our road trip continues to Philly next.”

A testing fleet’s arrival in a city could foretell a full launch, but not necessarily. Waymo has test-driven in dozens of cities. Riders can hail the cars in San Francisco, Phoenix, Los Angeles, Austin, and, most recently, Atlanta.

Waymo provides more than 250,000 autonomous paid trips each week, according to Karp. And the expansion is expected to continue, with Waymos set to become available in Miami and Washington, D.C., next year.

The company notes on its website that testing in one city can help its autonomous vehicles in other ones.

“For example, our rain testing in Miami was instrumental in enabling us to serve riders fully autonomously in wet and rainy conditions in California and Phoenix,” read a 2023 blog post on the cross-country road trips.

Waymo has announced it will also be test-driving with manual drivers this month in New York. It has applied to the city for a permit to enter its next trial stage: Autonomous testing, with a human on board who could take over if needed.

In New York, “this is not an expansion,” Waymo told Reuters, “but we have every intention of bringing our fully autonomous ride-hailing service to the city in the future.” Waymo is petitioning to change New York law in order to do so.

Driverless vehicles are permitted to be tested in Pennsylvania and New Jersey under certain conditions. The manual-driving that Waymo is doing now is permitted. A certificate would be required to move on to the next stage, the autonomous testing with a human on board for backup.

PennDot does not list Waymo among the companies that have such a certificate. Department spokesperson Zachary Appleby confirmed Tuesday that the company applied for one, and its application is under review.

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