Nov 3 (Reuters) - Waymo said on Monday it will launch

its robotaxi service in Las Vegas, San Diego and Detroit next

year, marking its biggest geographic expansion yet.

The Alphabet unit will also start driving its

new Zeekr-built vehicles this week, alongside its existing

Jaguar I-PACE fleet, it added.

The new Zeekr model, developed with Chinese automaker Geely,

are designed specifically for robotaxi use cases and will be

rolled out gradually as the company expands its service.

Companies like Waymo, Tesla and Amazon's ( AMZN )

Zoox are investing billions into self-driving technology.

Tesla launched its long-awaited robotaxi service earlier

this year, while Waymo already operates driverless services in

Phoenix, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Austin, and has

completed more than 10 million trips.

Waymo plans to launch the service in Las Vegas next summer,

while in San Diego, it is working with local officials and first

responders to secure deployment permits.

In Detroit, the company said its winter-weather testing in

Michigan's Upper Peninsula has strengthened its ability to

operate year-round, where it has long maintained engineering

operations.