Waymo began carrying paying passengers without a safety driver in Denver, San Diego and Tampa on September 1, extending its robotaxi service to a 14th U.S. city, the Alphabet-owned company said in a blog post.
The rollout follows Waymo’s usual pattern: tens of thousands of people in each city had already joined a waitlist before the service opened, and the company is admitting riders gradually rather than opening access to everyone at once.
A new vehicle takes the lead
Denver and San Diego are the first markets where Waymo relies exclusively on its newest vehicle — a Zeekr-built minivan reported to be called the Ojai — running what the company describes as its next-generation Waymo Driver software. Tampa’s fleet instead mixes Ojai vehicles with Waymo’s existing Jaguar I-Pace cars. Standardizing on a single, purpose-built platform in two full markets suggests Waymo is moving away from retrofitting off-the-shelf cars as it keeps adding cities.
Leaning on safety and accessibility
Waymo again pointed to its safety data to justify the expansion, citing an internal analysis that found its vehicles are involved in 94% fewer serious-injury-or-worse crashes than human drivers over comparable mileage. The company also framed accessibility as a selling point: Julia Cardenas, president of the National Federation of the Blind’s San Diego chapter, said in the announcement that being able to get into a car with no driver — with her guide dog riding along without issue — was “a truly great feeling.” Ahead of each launch, Waymo said it worked with local first responders, officials and community groups so emergency crews would know how to interact with its vehicles.
A faster expansion race
The three-city launch pushes Waymo toward its stated goal of a million paid rides a week by the end of 2026, up from roughly half that pace earlier this year. Competition is also intensifying: Nevada regulators recently cleared as many as 8,000 robotaxis for Tesla, Uber and Waymo to operate in the state, and Amazon’s Zoox is preparing to test in additional U.S. cities. For background on the underlying technology, see our explainer on how AI powers self-driving cars.