Waymo expands robotaxi service to Dallas, Houston, San Antonio and Orlando

Waymo is moving to widen where it dispatches robotaxis after announcing a near-term expansion into four additional U.S. cities, bringing its robotaxi coverage to 10 major metropolitan markets, the company said. The company announced Tuesday that Dallas, Houston, San Antonio and Orlando, Florida, will be added to its early deployment footprint.

Waymo’s rollout follows its existing operation across six metropolitan areas: Phoenix; the San Francisco Bay Area; Los Angeles; Miami; Atlanta; and Austin, Texas. In those markets, the company said its robotaxis provide more than 400,000 weekly trips, supporting that it is already running at scale within its current coverage zones.

In how the service reaches riders, Waymo said it runs its ride-hailing robotaxi service through its own app in all U.S. cities except Atlanta and Austin. In those two markets, Waymo said riders can summon the robotaxis only through Uber’s ride-hailing service.

Waymo said the four-city expansion is also intended to move it toward a stated operational target: surpassing 1 million weekly paid trips by the end of 2026. Without naming what it will be the next U.S. locations beyond the four announced markets, Waymo said it is targeting a list of eight other cities that includes Las Vegas, Washington, Detroit and Boston.

The expansion also comes as Waymo faces competition from other robotaxi efforts. The company said its push widens its early lead in autonomous driving while rival services from Tesla and the Amazon-owned Zoox remain in testing in only a few U.S. cities.

Beyond the U.S., Waymo did not specify a timetable, but signaled that its first overseas availability is likely to be London. The announcement also highlighted that Waymo is seeking to fund continued deployment, saying it recently raised $16 billion that values the company at $126 billion, a figure that has fueled speculation about whether Waymo could eventually be spun off from its corporate parent, Alphabet.

For the four newly announced markets, Waymo said the robotaxis will initially be available to a limited number of people using its ride-hailing app before the service becomes available to all riders in those cities.