Morning all, this is Tom Riley, and welcome back to The Fast Charge, a British EV newsletter.
Today is a special video edition, as I reveal that, during the past two weeks, the Alphabet (Google) owned robotaxi company, Waymo, has launched a significant ‘go-to-market’ social media campaign which has already reached millions of Londoners.
In the video, as part of my efforts to work out if the adverts are suggestive of an imminent launch, I go in search of Waymo’s West London facility to see if I could learn anything.
I call the adventure… Finding Waymo.
Story below, and the video can be watched on Substack, YouTube, or later it will be on my LinkedIn page.
Waymo targets “early majority” with massive social media campaign
Let’s start with a question: If you were about to launch a totally new product, a product that many people might be quite sceptical of, and that needed a steady stream of demand to be successful… how would you approach the task?
The path many people might take is to establish a waiting list. It’s a tried and tested method to both prove desire for the product – especially if one is operating in a highly regulated industry – and to ensure there is demand in the freezer, ready to be heated up.
According to an analysis of Meta’s Ad Library… The Fast Charge Newsletter has found that, since 28 September 2026, the Alphabet (Google) owned autonomous vehicle company, Waymo, has launched a series of 18 campaigns targeting Londoners with 10 distinct messages.
In under two weeks… The combined reach of Waymo’s adverts – pushed through Instagram and Facebook – is over 6.5 million. This represents a massive effort, and likely a significant budget.
The marketing objective is to get people to sign up for updates. It appears to be the first campaign solely focused on a London audience. Each advert directs individuals to Waymo’s London homepage.
However, the messaging focus is clearly about safety. Messaging is tailored to London, and images feature road users who Waymo must see as more vulnerable on the city streets, such as those who are blind and cyclists. For example:
One advert says the Waymo Driver is “Never distracted” and in another says it can “see 300m in London fog”.
Another ad features a woman boarding a vehicle alone at night with the tagline: “3am or 3pm. Same driver. Every time.” While another ad, seen by 1 million, promises, “No small talk. No dodginess. No drama.”
The most widely seen ad, which alone reached nearly 1.5 million people, says: “Privacy is now part of the London transit system.”
An industry source working in the robotaxi market has told me… Waymo has no launch date as it is yet to get approved by the right authorities to go live. The same source suggested this ad campaign may just be about building brand visibility.
Likewise… On the 24th of September, Waymo launched a policy whitepaper focused on its “Vision for London,” which covers how the company believes it will better connect the city and keep residents safer. The ad campaign started four days after this launch.
But… Going back to the start of this article, a review of the adverts themselves suggests the adverts do have a more targeted commercial purpose.
Hidden in plain sight? When a company runs a marketing campaign, it often uses special URL links to track performance. And Waymo’s is far from simply a random assortment of characters. Instead, when someone clicks through to sign up, the link includes the following:
paidsocial&utm_campaign=w1_2026_q3_brand_meta_ldn_leads_all_signup_gtm_paidsocial_gb&utm_term=w1_brand_all_ldn_earlyadopters+earlymajority&utm_content
For those uninitiated in marketing jargon… You are blessed. The acronym ‘gtm’ means ‘go-to-market’. Alone it wouldn’t seem that odd; however, alongside ‘2026’ and ‘Q3’ I certainly find it interesting, given September was originally the date Waymo briefed media that they would be launching in London.
Also in the URL… the text ‘early adopters’ and ‘early majority’ appears to refer to stages where people stand on a standard technology adoption curve. These terms suggest Waymo has real ambitions to move quickly beyond younger enthusiasts and onto those who are in the mainstream, and perhaps are more conservative.
They certainly need to get a move on. Waymo’s main UK competitor is Wayve, who already launched an autonomous service with Uber during the summer. However, as is shown in the video, there appears to be confidence that Waymo will not be far behind.
When I did find Waymo’s base in West London… it was so much bigger than I expected. And bustling with activity – even on a Sunday! It occupies a huge former haulage area and warehouse. While there, I learned that Waymo has more than 100 all-electric AVs already in London and based at the site. Readers may recall, in January, I learned from Waymo that even after months of being live, it would likely only have a fleet in the low hundreds operating.
When asked about its advertising blitz and whether a launch was imminent… a spokesperson for Waymo told The Fast Charge:
“These advertisements, like Waymo’s Vision for London white paper, are intended to familiarise the public with our service and the opportunities it presents for London.
“In every city we operate, we engage with the public, policymakers, and emergency services well-ahead of fully autonomous operations, as part of our commitment to transparency.”
