Waymo expands robotaxi service to four U.S. cities

Waymo announced that its fully autonomous robotaxi service will be launched in four additional U.S. cities – San Diego, Las Vegas, Tampa and Denver. The rollout will begin with rides for Alphabet employees before opening to the public. Waymo’s fleet, which already operates in more than ten cities, primarily uses Jaguar I‑Pace electric SUVs and the newer Ojai minivans built on a Zeekr platform; the company is also testing Hyundai Ioniq 5 vehicles with a safety driver on board.

The expansion follows Waymo’s recent operational challenges, including a recall of roughly 3,800 Jaguar I‑Pace units after incidents where vehicles entered construction zones or flooded roadways, and temporary service suspensions in San Francisco during large crowds and power outages. Despite these issues, Waymo reported about 500,000 paid rides per week and aims to reach 1 million weekly rides by year‑end. The company continues to target further growth with plans for services in New York, Chicago, London and Tokyo.