Waymo Pays $220M for 5,500-Acre Arizona Test Facility Previously Owned by Apple
The autonomous-vehicle company purchased the former Apple-owned test site near Wittman to expand controlled-environment testing for its self-driving system.
TechCrunchWaymo acquired a 5,500-acre proving ground in Arizona from Route 14 Investment Partners LLC for $220 million. The sale was recorded on June 5 according to Maricopa County documents. The property lies near other proving grounds in Wittman, Arizona.
It includes a 115-acre city course, a 35-acre vehicle dynamics area, a 4-mile oval track, and a freeway course purpose-built for autonomous vehicle testing. Waymo confirmed the purchase. A Waymo spokesperson said the facility will be used to simulate driving scenarios in a controlled environment to continuously test and improve the performance of its self-driving system.
The company will support rider-only testing, motion control testing, operational training workflows, and future testing expansion over time. TechCrunch reported that the property was previously owned by Route 14 Investment Partners LLC, a Delaware shell company associated with Apple. Apple purchased the property in 2021 for $125 million after renting access to it for years.
The facility had previously been used as a test facility for Fiat Chrysler and featured different road surfaces and a high-speed oval for hot-weather testing. TechCrunch also reported that Apple spent 10 years and $10 billion on its self-driving car project, known as Project Titan, before cancelling it in early 2024 because it could not achieve its objectives.
The Phoenix Business Journal was the first to spot the sale document.
Waymo continues to use the Castle Proving Ground in California and the Transportation Research Center in Ohio. The Arizona site is larger than both existing facilities. Waymo’s fleet currently stands at close to 4,000 vehicles and operates in cities including Los Angeles, the San Francisco Bay Area, Austin, and Atlanta.
