Alphabet Inc.-backed Waymo announced that it is now operating in 10 cities as the global robotaxi race heats up.
The company announced on February 25 that it was rolling out its autonomous ride-hailing service in four new cities: Dallas, San Antonio, Houston and Orlando, taking the total number of cities it operates in to 10.
“Waymo is serving more riders than ever, as we are on track to serve over one million rides per week by the end of this year,” Tekedra Mawakana, co-CEO of Waymo, said in the official statement released by the company.
The company last reported having 450,000 rides per week. The same statement also shared that the company had recorded over 200 million autonomous miles driven by its self-driving system.
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However, despite its growth, Waymo has been under scrutiny by the authorities after multiple incidents involving its autonomous vehicles. A Waymo “Ojai” Robotaxi crashed into several parked vehicles in California.
A Waymo robotaxi also collided with a child in Santa Monica in a school zone. NHTSA has said that it is investigating over 3,000 Waymo autonomous vehicles following these incidents.
Waymo’s rival Tesla Inc. has also been accelerating its robotaxi and autonomous vehicle efforts, as the Elon Musk-led automaker recently unveiled the company’s Cybercab, which will command a price tag of $30,000 or less and is set to enter ramped-up production in April this year.
The Cybercab was also spotted testing on a highway in Chicago, signalling positive shifts in the company’s AV efforts. However, challenges remain in Tesla’s Robotaxi roadmap after the service in Austin reported 5 additional crashes in January, taking the total number of reported incidents to 14 since mid-2025.
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Musk has also touted Tesla having the largest autonomous fleet in the future, but the company’s self-driving efforts have also faced criticism from investors like Ross Gerber of investment firm Gerber Kawasaki.
Meanwhile, Waymo also faces competition from Baidu Inc.-backed Robotaxi company Apollo Go on a global level, as the Chinese company announced it had reached the 300,000 robotaxi rides per week milestone amid an expansion of the service into South Korea.
