Waymo Expands Robotaxi Service to 3 New Cities
▼ Summary
– Waymo is launching robotaxi services in Detroit, Las Vegas, and San Diego as part of its expansion from autonomous technology developer to commercial enterprise.
– The company aims to offer 1 million trips per week by the end of 2026, having already surpassed 250,000 weekly rides as of April.
– Waymo plans to deploy self-driving Jaguar I-Pace and Zeekr RT vehicles in the new markets, starting with human-driven mapping before transitioning to full autonomy.
– The company has previously tested in these cities and is prepared for Detroit’s winter conditions, with an engineering team based in the area.
– Waymo faces competition from other robotaxi services, such as Zoox in Las Vegas and Tesla in Austin, as it expands its market presence.
Waymo is accelerating its commercial footprint with the launch of its robotaxi service in Detroit, Las Vegas, and San Diego, signaling a major step in the company’s transition from an autonomous technology developer to a full-scale commercial operator. This expansion follows recent statements from Waymo co-CEO Tekedra Mawakana, who emphasized the necessity of scaling operations during a TechCrunch Disrupt 2025 appearance. Mawakana projected that by the close of 2026, Waymo expects to be completing one million trips each week, a substantial increase from the more than 250,000 weekly rides reported last April.
The company has built its service rollout on a foundation of extensive testing, beginning years ago in Silicon Valley before launching commercial operations in Phoenix, the San Francisco Bay Area, and Los Angeles. More recently, Waymo entered Atlanta and Austin through a partnership with Uber. Looking ahead, the firm has announced intentions to bring its commercial service to several additional markets in 2026, including Denver, Miami, Nashville, London, Seattle, and Washington, D.C.
Initial service in the three new cities will involve a fleet of self-driving Jaguar I-Pace and Zeekr RT vehicles, though public access won’t be immediate. Waymo’s standard deployment strategy starts with human safety drivers manually operating vehicles to collect detailed maps of city streets. After this initial phase, the human operators are removed, and the autonomous vehicles, outfitted with cameras, radar, lidar sensors, and proprietary self-driving software, begin navigating on their own. A period of driverless testing follows, during which access is granted to employees, media members, and select consumers, before the robotaxi service finally opens to the general public.
Las Vegas Mayor Shelley Berkley welcomed the announcement, describing Waymo’s autonomous driving technology as a proven and safe new transportation alternative. She stressed that the service is designed to assist both residents and the millions of visitors traveling throughout the city, from the Las Vegas Strip to surrounding areas, and reaffirmed the city’s commitment to responsible adoption of the technology.
Waymo is no stranger to these new service areas. The company has previously conducted autonomous vehicle testing in Detroit, Las Vegas, and San Diego, and maintains an engineering team in the Detroit region. It has also prepared for challenging weather, having spent multiple winter seasons driving throughout metro Detroit and the Upper Peninsula to enhance its capabilities in snowy conditions.
According to Waymo, its rapid geographic growth is enabled by the generalized nature of its self-driving system, which has helped it secure a leading position in the robotaxi sector. Still, competition is growing. Zoox already provides a complimentary robotaxi service in Las Vegas, where it has tested and refined its technology for several years. Meanwhile, Tesla is operating a robotaxi service with human monitors in the passenger seat in parts of Austin.
(Source: TechCrunch)
