Waymo to launch driverless robotaxi rides in four US cities

Waymo, the autonomous vehicle subsidiary of Alphabet, announced it will soon begin offering fully autonomous robotaxi rides in four new U.S. cities: San Diego, Las Vegas, Tampa, and Denver. The company made the announcement on Wednesday, July 8, 2026, stating that the initial rollout in these cities will be limited to company employees, with plans to expand to the general public in the coming weeks. This expansion will bring Waymo's commercial robotaxi service to a total of 15 U.S. cities, building on its existing operations in Atlanta, Austin, Dallas, Houston, Los Angeles, Miami, Nashville, Orlando, Phoenix, San Antonio, and the San Francisco Bay Area.

The company, which raised $16 billion in February 2026, currently operates a domestic fleet of roughly 4,000 vehicles equipped with its proprietary automated driving systems. As of March 2026, the service was completing over 500,000 paid rides per week, and the company aims to reach one million weekly paid trips by the end of the year. Waymo's fleet primarily consists of Jaguar I-Pace vehicles, but it has also begun deploying a new model called the Ojai minivan. The company noted it has also started testing Hyundai Ioniq 5...