Waymo hits 500,000 fully driverless paid rides per week across 15 U.S. cities

Waymo’s latest growth figure puts a hard number on how far the U.S. robotaxi market has moved beyond pilot programs. The Alphabet-owned company said in late March it was providing 500,000 paid robotaxi rides a week across 10 U.S. cities, and it has continued adding markets since then. (techcrunch.com) That matters because Waymo’s service is fully driverless in its commercial markets. On its FAQ page, the company says riders can hail vehicles with no human driver in the front seat and says its driver has logged more than 200 million fully autonomous miles on public roads. (waymo.com) (cbsnews.com) The comparison with Tesla is drawing attention because Tesla’s Austin robotaxi service has followed a different operating model and a different technical approach. Federal crash data reported by CBS and analyzed by Electrek showed 14 crashes in Austin since Tesla launched the service in June 2025. (techcrunch.com) ### Where is Waymo actually operating right now? Waymo’s own materials show a broad but uneven U.S. footprint. The company says its ride-hailing service operates in Dallas, Houston, Los Angeles, Miami, Nashville, Orlando, Phoenix, San Antonio and the San Francisco Bay Area, while rides in Austin and Atlanta are offered through Uber. (waymo.com) February 24 added four more commercial metro areas at once. In a company post that day, Waymo said it opened its fully autonomous ride-hailing service to first public riders in Dallas, Houston, San Antonio and Orlando, bringing its total commercial metro areas to 10. (cbsnews.com) July 8 added the next wave. Waymo said it was preparing fully autonomous operations in Denver, Las Vegas, San Diego and Tampa, starting with employee rides before broader public access. ### Why does the “500,000 rides a week” number matter? March 27 was the point when Waymo publicly tied its expansion to a national usage figure. (waymo.com) TechCrunch reported that the company said it was providing 500,000 paid robotaxi rides every week across 10 U.S. cities. Tekedra Mawakana, Waymo’s co-chief executive, said on February 24 that the company was on track to serve more than 1 million rides per week by the end of 2026. (waymo.com) That forecast came as Waymo described Dallas, Houston, San Antonio and Orlando as part of groundwork for service in more than 20 cities. (waymo.com) ### How does Tesla’s Austin record compare? Tesla’s Austin service has generated a more contested safety record. CBS reported on February 17 that Tesla’s robotaxis had been involved in 14 crashes in Austin since the June 2025 launch, citing data the company disclosed to federal regulators. (techcrunch.com) Electrek said those 14 crashes worked out to about one crash every 57,000 miles, based on an estimate of roughly 800,000 cumulative miles by mid-January 2026. Electrek also reported that all five newly added incidents involved Model Y vehicles in Austin and that Tesla had redacted the narratives in the federal database. (waymo.com) CBS reported that no injuries were listed in the five most recent incidents, though two earlier crashes in July and October 2025 resulted in minor injuries. NHTSA said after videos surfaced last year that it had contacted Tesla over footage showing erratic driving, including wrong-way travel and sudden braking. (cbsnews.com) ### What is the technology argument underneath this? Waymo’s public position is explicit about redundancy. Its website describes a system built around autonomous operation at scale, and outside reporting has consistently described Waymo’s stack as combining cameras with lidar and radar, rather than relying on cameras alone. (electrek.co) Tesla, by contrast, has staked its self-driving program on a camera-based system. That difference has become central to how investors, regulators and rivals frame the race, especially as Waymo expands public service while Tesla tries to scale beyond Austin. (cbsnews.com) ### What happens next? San Diego, Las Vegas, Tampa and Denver are the next named markets to watch. Waymo said on July 8 that employee rides would begin first, followed by public access, and CNBC reported that the company is still targeting 1 million weekly trips by the end of 2026. (waymo.com) (aioapex.com) (waymo.com)