Humanoid & robot atlas
Firefly (Google self-driving car prototype)
Photo: Grendelkhan, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
RetiredSucceeded by Waymo Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid (4th-gen Waymo Driver) United StatesFully autonomousSAE level 4

Waymo · research vehicle

Firefly

Google self-driving car prototype

A two-seat, purpose-built pod that Google designed in-house to test driving without any manual controls. It was speed-capped at 25 mph and limited to low-speed streets.

Price
—service only, not sold
Autonomy
Level 4No driver needed in its area
Driverless
TestingSince 2015-10-20
Fleet
~50Reported; details below
Speed
40.0 km/hFaster than 33%
Range
—Not published
Compare

Why it matters

Built with no steering wheel or pedals, it gave what Waymo calls the first fully driverless ride on public roads, in Austin in October 2015.

Real-world use

About 50 prototypes tested in Mountain View and Austin until Waymo retired the fleet in June 2017; several are now in museums.

Timeline

First shown
2014-05
Released
Not yet
Google introduces its purpose-built steering-wheel-free prototype

Maker

WaymoCompany

How it drives

Fleet and city figures move fast; each carries its date and who reported it.

Driverless status
Driverless tests only
Where it runs
Mountain View (California) and Austin (Texas), 2015-2017
Driverless since
2015-10-20
Fleet
about 50 prototypes when retired (Waymo/press, June 2017)
SAE level
Level 4: drives itself with no one at the controls inside its approved area

How it stacks up

Against other research pioneers that publish the figure. Pick a measure.

  1. VaMPBundeswehr University Munich with Mercedes-Benz (EUREKA PROMETHEUS) · 1994175.0 km/h
  2. VITA-2Daimler-Benz (EUREKA PROMETHEUS) · 1994130.0 km/h
  3. Navlab 2Carnegie Mellon University Robotics Institute · 1990110.0 km/h
  4. VaMoRsBundeswehr University Munich (Ernst Dickmanns) · 198696.0 km/h
  5. Firefly (Google self-driving car prototype)Waymo (Google self-driving car project) · 201440.0 km/h
  6. Navlab 1Carnegie Mellon University Robotics Institute · 198632.0 km/h
  7. Tsukuba self-driving carTsukuba Mechanical Engineering Laboratory (MITI) · 197730.0 km/h

Firefly (Google self-driving car prototype) is faster than 33% of the 6 other research pioneers that publish a speed. Bars show the 6 closest in date.

Speed 40.0 km/h 30.0 km/h175.0 km/h #5 of 7 · faster than 33%

Not published by the maker: height, weight, payload, joints, battery, price.

Public attention

A historic robot: no longer sold or in use, so it is not ranked against current vehicles.

  • No Wikipedia article of its own yet
  • No recent press stories listed yet

Measures how much people read and write about a robot, not how good it is. Measured 2026-10-14; same method for every robot. How it is measured

Made, sold and where

No production or sales figures published yet.

Price
Not publishedservice only, not sold
How to get one
No official buying page found

Sources

Figures come from press coverage. Every link below backs something on this page.

Waymo From Post-it note to prototype: the journey WRAL TechWire Waymo retires its cute self-driving car prototype Engadget Waymo bids its self-driving bubble cars farewell Google Just press go: designing a self-driving vehicle

Photos and logos only identify each robot and its maker. Simbeing is not affiliated with, sponsored by or endorsing any company, and nothing here is advertising. Figures are for statistics only and are not advice of any kind. Terms of use