Waymo announced that the company is expanding its driverless rider services to four more cities in the United States in the coming weeks.
The confirmed launch cities are San Diego, Las Vegas, Tampa Bay and Denver. Initially, autonomous robotaxi rides will be available only to Alphabet employees. However, they intend to expand the offer to members of the general public shortly thereafter.
This multi-state expansion will test Waymo’s fleet and most likely lead to another fleet expansion. As of last month, the company’s domestic fleet is around 4,000 robotaxis. All of these vehicles run Waymo’s fifth- or sixth-generation automated driving systems.
Per Waymo, this is not the only expansion for the year. The company is also looking to expand internationally and is currently testing in London, England, where it hopes to launch autonomous robotaxi services by the end of 2026.
This positive news about expansion comes as Waymo continues to struggle with challenges in relation to its vehicles. Over the past several months, the company has had robotaxis drive into flooded streets, flee police and, during the Fourth of July in San Francisco, several Waymo taxis died sitting in traffic after lengthy delays.
For Waymo, these expansions are important as the company is in an arms race with other robotaxi services, including Zoox and Tesla. Zoox is rolling out robotaxi services in Austin and Miami this year, while Tesla is expanding into Central Texas and Miami. So every expansion is an opportunity to gain and secure a customer base they will need to fund future plans.
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