Waymo was first given the green light to begin public robotaxi rides in California in October 2021. | Source: Waymo
Waymo today said it is bringing driverless robotaxis to five new cities: Miami, Dallas, Houston, San Antonio, and Orlando. The company currently operates autonomous robotaxis in Atlanta, Austin, Los Angeles, Phoenix, and San Francisco.
Waymo said it is removing human safety drivers in Miami starting today, and it will begin in the remaining four cities over the coming weeks. To start, the self-driving robotaxis will be available only to company employees in each of these cities. Waymo said services will open up to the public in 2026.
“Waymo has entered a new phase of commercial scale, doubling the number of cities we operate without a human specialist in the car,” said Saswat Panigrahi, Waymo chief product officer. “This expansion is a testament to our world-leading AI, hardware, operations, rider love, and our constructive dialogue with local communities, all of which allows us to scale safely. By transforming our extensive experience into expansion, we accelerate the introduction of the safe, reliable, and magical experience of the Waymo Driver to riders around the world.”
In the U.S., Waymo robotaxis have already driven more than 100 million fully autonomous miles on public roads and provided more than 10 million paid rides. The Mountain View, Calif.-based company said it is now driving more than 2 million fully autonomous miles and providing over a quarter of a million rides per week.
Waymo won The Robot Report‘s RBR50 Robot of the Year Award in 2025.
Waymo has big plans for 2026
In 2025, Waymo has been expanding its robotaxi services, not just by adding new cities, but also by expanding the conditions it can operate in. Just last week, the company announced that its autonomous vehicles would begin offering rides on freeways across the San Francisco Bay Area, Phoenix, and Los Angeles. The company is starting with a select number of public riders, which it expects to grow in the coming months.
Waymo also expanded its service area in the San Francisco Bay Area. Its robotaxis now cover San Francisco all the way down to San Jose, Calif., including curbside service at San Jose Mineta International Airport. Check out the service area in the map below.
Waymo has expanded its service in the San Francisco Bay Area. Source: Waymo
Robotaxis head to new environments
Beyond freeways, Waymo also has plans to start deploying robotaxis in areas that get more adverse weather. While the company has hit some major milestones, there’s a key similarity between all of its autonomous driving environments so far: None of them get regular, heavy snowfall.
Waymo is also testing robotaxis in New York City, Washington, D.C., and Boston, and it has plans to deploy robotaxis in Detroit in the near future.
Additionally, Waymo is planning to bring its technology overseas. It said it wants to deploy in London in 2026, and it has already deployed test vehicles in Tokyo to learn local traffic patterns.
The company is also starting to deploy its autonomous vehicles for other applications. In October, it partnered with DoorDash to use Waymo vehicles for grocery runs, meal orders, and more in Metro Phoenix.
Waymo has said it intends to expand to launch services in Nashville, Las Vegas, San Diego, and Detroit in the coming years.
While Waymo’s longtime rival Cruise is no longer in operation, it still faces competitors such as Zoox and Nuro, which are earlier in their deployment journeys. Today, Zoox announced that it has opened robotaxi operations to the public in San Francisco.
Tell Us What You Think!