Waymo Robotaxis Now Serving 10 U.S. Cities with 400K Weekly Rides

Imagine ordering a ride and watching a car pull up with no one behind the wheel. For people in 10 major U.S. cities, that's now reality.

Waymo just announced it's bringing its self-driving taxis to Dallas, Houston, San Antonio, and Orlando. The expansion marks a major milestone in making autonomous transportation accessible to millions of Americans who previously only saw this technology in movies.

The robotaxi service already completes more than 400,000 weekly trips across six cities: Phoenix, San Francisco Bay Area, Los Angeles, Miami, Atlanta, and Austin. These aren't test drives with safety monitors. They're regular people getting to work, heading to dinner, and running errands in vehicles navigating traffic completely on their own.

The numbers tell an impressive story of trust and adoption. Waymo aims to hit 1 million paid trips weekly by the end of 2026, a goal that seems increasingly achievable given their current growth rate.

While competitors like Tesla and Amazon-owned Zoox still test their vehicles in limited areas, Waymo has built a commanding lead. The company recently secured $16 billion in funding, bringing its total value to $126 billion and fueling plans to expand to eight more cities including Las Vegas, Washington, Detroit, and Boston.

The initial rollout in the four new Texas and Florida cities will start small, with limited availability through Waymo's app before opening to everyone. In Austin and Atlanta, riders can already hail Waymo vehicles through Uber's familiar interface, making the technology even more accessible.

The Ripple Effect

This expansion represents more than convenient rides. Autonomous vehicles promise safer roads by eliminating human error, which causes 94% of serious crashes. They offer mobility to people who can't drive due to age, disability, or financial constraints. And they're paving the way for cleaner transportation as fleets transition to electric power.

The technology that started as a secret Google project in 2009 has quietly transformed into a service touching hundreds of thousands of lives weekly. Waymo even has its sights set internationally, with London likely becoming its first overseas market.

Real innovation happens when breakthrough technology becomes so reliable that people stop thinking about it and simply use it. Waymo's steady expansion across America suggests we've reached that turning point for autonomous transportation.