Waymo has announced the launch of its driverless ride-hailing service in four new U.S. cities: San Diego, Las Vegas, Tampa, Florida, and Denver.
In the coming weeks, the service will initially be made available to internal employees before being gradually rolled out to the general public.
Within the still-developing U.S. autonomous taxi market, Waymo holds a significant first-mover advantage.
On July 7, 2026, in San Francisco, California, a fleet of Waymo autonomous taxis was seen navigating the North Beach neighborhood. During the recent Independence Day celebrations, several Waymo vehicles reportedly ran out of battery power after being stuck in prolonged traffic and had to be towed.
Over the next few weeks, Waymo will deploy its vehicles without safety drivers in four new cities, continuing its domestic expansion in the United States and further extending its lead over local competitors like Tesla Motors (TSLA) and Amazon.com (AMZN)-owned Zoox.
The Alphabet-owned autonomous mobility company revealed on Wednesday that it will commence fully driverless passenger service in San Diego, Las Vegas, Tampa, Florida, and Denver. The service will start by being accessible only to Alphabet employees before eventually opening up to all residents.
Wayma had outlined this expansion plan last year and currently operates its driverless service in over ten cities. While Waymo's market lead is clear, both Tesla Motors and Zoox are slowly expanding to more cities. Zoox plans to offer its autonomous taxi service to select members of the public later this year in Austin, Texas, and Miami. Tesla Motors is expanding from Austin to other parts of Texas and is also entering the Miami market.
According to filings submitted to U.S. vehicle safety regulators, Waymo operated approximately 4,000 autonomous vehicles across the U.S. as of May this year, all equipped with its fifth and sixth-generation autonomous driving systems.
This expansion announcement comes as Waymo also grapples with operational challenges stemming from its growing fleet size, including vehicles entering flooded areas during extreme weather. During San Francisco's Independence Day celebrations, multiple vehicles were stuck in traffic for extended periods, depleting their batteries, and one vehicle reportedly drove directly into a fireworks display zone.
In February of this year, Waymo secured $16 billion in funding from investors including its parent company Alphabet and other external institutions. The company plans to launch in its first international market, London, later this year. To date, Waymo has completed over 20 million autonomous passenger trips and aims to reach a weekly operational scale of one million trips by the end of the year.
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