Waymo's rollout progressed slowly at first. Now it's happening all at once. After tinkering with its autonomous driving technology for well over a decade, the Alphabet-owned firm is rapidly expanding its driverless taxi service into new territory.
On Monday, Waymo announced its self-driving cars will hit three more cities in 2026: San Diego, Detroit and Las Vegas. That should bring the tally to at least 12 operational U.S. cities by the end of next year, if all goes to plan.
"We'll follow our safety framework and serve riders in these cities once we’ve properly validated our technology, with the intention to open our doors to riders next year," Waymo spokesperson Sandy Karp said in an email, referring to Monday's announcement. Detroit will be a unique challenge, as it's the first market for Waymo's commercial operations that regularly sees ice and snow in the winter. The company says it's been testing in Michigan's snowy Upper Peninsula to build an "all-weather" autonomous vehicle.
Just a few years ago, Waymo was just getting its commercial operations off the ground. Today, users can order driverless rides via Waymo's own ride-hailing app or through Uber in five cities: San Francisco, Phoenix, Los Angeles, Austin, and Atlanta. It now logs hundreds of thousands of paid rides per week across those markets.
It is already far and away America's leader in self-driving taxis. Its primary rival, Cruise, closed up shop in December. Amazon's Zoox is working on a service based around steering wheel-free toaster-shaped pods, but it hasn't started commercial rides yet. Tesla has big robotaxi dreams, but it's only in two markets right now—the San Francisco Bay Area and Austin—with safety monitors in its cars.
With Uber striking deal after deal in the autonomous arena, Waymo is working overtime to stay in the lead. By the end of 2026, Waymo also plans to launch in Miami, Dallas, Washington, D.C., Nashville and London, which marks its first international expansion. Earlier this year, Waymo announced that it would start expanding to new cities faster than before.
"Operating in 5+ major U.S. cities and testing across the country and Tokyo has strengthened our system, creating a robust and adaptable Waymo Driver that can expand to new cities," the company said in August.
More metro areas are on the horizon, too, but without firm commitments for when public rides will begin. Waymo says it's laying the groundwork for Seattle and Denver. This summer, it started testing in the final boss of U.S cities: New York.
Contact the author: Tim.Levin@InsideEVs.com
