Google's parent company Alphabet has revealed in a Wednesday announcement that the testing of the company's self-driving cars will be expanded to Kirkland, Washington, towards the end of February.

The announcement implies that Kirkland will soon become the third city in which Google will be testing its self-driving cars.

The two cities in which Google is already testing its self-driving cars are --- Mountain View, California; and Austin, Texas. The testing of the self-driving cars in Mountain View -- where Google is headquartered -- has been underway for the last six years; and the company expanded the testing to Austin last summer.

With regard to its decision to further expand the testing of its self-driving cars to a third city -- Kirkland, Washington -- later this month, Google said in a recent statement that the key reason behind the selection of the new site in the northwest US is to ensure that the company's self-driving cars are tested out in "different driving environments, traffic patterns, and road conditions."

Google also added that the expansion of self-driving car testing to Kirkland will enable the company to test the sensors of self-driving cars at different angles and elevations, chiefly because the significant seasonal rain recorded in the city will allow for the testing of the cars in wet weather.