SAN BRUNO, Calif. — The self-driving car company Waymo said Wednesday it would begin offering rides on freeways for robotaxi customers in Los Angeles, Phoenix and the San Francisco Bay Area in a significant step forward for autonomous vehicles.

Previously, Waymo has limited its robotaxis to city streets, saying it wanted to be sure its technology was safe before deploying it at the faster speeds of freeways. But after years of testing, the company said it now believed it was ready.

The ability to travel on interstate highways and expressways has been one of the missing puzzle pieces for self-driving technology since scientists began working on it decades ago , alongside such challenges as snowy weather and vandalism .

“This has been a long time in the making,” Waymo co-CEO Dmitri Do

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