TL;DR
The car that drives itself is no longer an American experiment. Waymo already carries paying riders in 15 U.S. cities and is preparing Madrid, Tokyo and Toronto. Now Chinese developers are moving into the same markets: Baidu has started testing a robotaxi on the streets of London, two weeks after Uber and China's Pony.ai said they plan a London service, and Pony AI has signed with a global ride app and Nvidia to explore service in Kazakhstan. If those plans become launches, the next few years could see American and Chinese driverless fleets competing street by street in the world's big cities, with riders choosing between them the way they choose between ride apps today. For now, most of the overseas moves are intentions, not service.
Below the line, for paid subscribers: The full story: where it stands, how we got here and what's dated next; our Odds board on 5 milestones, starting with "Waymo carries its first riders in Madrid by 2027"; our labeled speculation on what it adds up to; and every source.