WASHINGTON, March 25 (Reuters) - Alphabet's

self-driving unit Waymo said on Tuesday it aims to launch its

fully autonomous ride-hailing service in the U.S. capital city

next year.

Waymo began moving vehicles to Washington, D.C., in January

and will bring more to the city in the coming weeks as it works

to start paid commercial services as soon as next year.

"We will also work closely with policymakers to formalize

the legal framework needed to operate without a human behind the

wheel, as Washington, D.C. does not currently allow for fully

autonomous operations," Waymo said on Tuesday.

Waymo One, the company's fully autonomous ride-hailing

service, is providing more than 200,000 paid passenger trips

each week in San Francisco, Phoenix, Los Angeles and Austin

after more than 4 million paid trips in 2024. It plans to add

Atlanta and Miami and then Washington, D.C.

The U.S. capital is home to federal regulators and

lawmakers. Automakers and tech companies want the government to

do more to speed vehicle deployments.

Waymo said in October that it had closed a $5.6 billion

funding round led by Google-parent Alphabet, as it looks to

expand its autonomous ride-hailing service despite some concerns

from regulators about safety issues.

In May, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration

opened an investigation after receiving 22 reports about Waymo

robotaxis exhibiting driving behavior that potentially violated

traffic safety laws, or demonstrating other "unexpected

behavior," including 17 collisions.

NHTSA said several incidents "involved collisions with

clearly visible objects that a competent driver would be

expected to avoid."

Waymo last June recalled 672 of its self-driving vehicles

after one of its driverless cars struck a wooden utility pole in

Phoenix in May. The recall included a software update to improve

vehicles' detection response to poles and "robust mapping

updates and improvements."

In February 2024, Waymo recalled 444 self-driving vehicles

after two minor collisions in quick succession in Arizona,

saying a software error could result in automated vehicles

inaccurately predicting the movement of a towed vehicle.

Waymo said Tuesday that based on collision data from more

than 50 million rider-only miles (80.5 million km), Waymo

vehicles have been involved in 81%, or 154, fewer injury-causing

crashes compared to an average human driver.