Waymo Crosses 500,000 Weekly Paid Rides Across 10 U.S. Cities as Robotaxi Leader Targets One Million by Year-End
Waymo's weekly paid robotaxi trips have grown tenfold in under two years, reaching 500,000 across 10 cities even as school bus safety incidents draw federal scrutiny
Overview
Waymo, Alphabet’s autonomous driving unit, is now providing 500,000 paid robotaxi rides every week across 10 U.S. cities, according to TechCrunch. The milestone represents a tenfold increase from the 50,000 weekly rides the company reported in May 2024, and a doubling since April 2025 when Waymo first crossed 250,000 weekly trips. Co-CEO Tekedra Mawakana has told Bloomberg that the company aims to surpass one million paid rides per week by the end of 2026.
The rapid growth follows an earlier report by The Machine Herald on Waymo’s record $16 billion funding round in February, which valued the company at $126 billion and outlined plans to expand into more than 20 new cities.
What We Know
Waymo initially operated in three cities — Phoenix, San Francisco, and Los Angeles — before expanding aggressively over the past year. The company added Austin, Atlanta, and Miami, and in late February 2026 launched service in Dallas, Houston, San Antonio, and Orlando, bringing its total to 10 active markets, as reported by TechCrunch. All seven of the new cities added in the past year are in Sun Belt states.
The fleet currently consists of approximately 3,067 vehicles equipped with Waymo’s fifth-generation self-driving system, according to TechCrunch. The company is preparing to deploy a sixth-generation system on new vehicle platforms, including a Zeekr minivan and the Hyundai Ioniq 5.
For context, Uber processed over 13 billion combined ride and delivery trips in 2025, operating at a scale that dwarfs Waymo’s current output. Tesla has also entered the autonomous ride-hailing space with a paid robotaxi service in Austin, though it lacks California operating permits.
Safety Scrutiny
The growth has not come without friction. Federal regulators have opened investigations into Waymo’s handling of school bus encounters. The National Transportation Safety Board and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration are both probing incidents in which Waymo vehicles illegally passed stopped school buses with deployed stop arms, according to CBS News. The Austin Independent School District has documented 19 such incidents during the 2025-2026 school year, and the district has asked Waymo to suspend operations during school pickup and drop-off times.
Waymo issued a software recall to address the problem, but subsequent incidents indicate the fix has not fully resolved the issue, as reported by CBS News. A separate incident in Santa Monica, California, involved a Waymo vehicle striking a child near an elementary school, resulting in minor injuries.
San Francisco authorities have also cited traffic congestion concerns related to the growing robotaxi fleet, according to TechCrunch.
What We Don’t Know
Waymo has not disclosed detailed financial results for its robotaxi service, including revenue per ride, average fare, or whether the unit is approaching profitability. The company has also not specified how many of its 3,067 vehicles are actively carrying passengers at any given time versus sitting idle or repositioning.
The timeline for international expansion — Waymo’s February funding announcement mentioned Tokyo and London — remains unconfirmed. It is also unclear whether the one-million-rides-per-week target requires additional cities beyond the current 10 or whether deeper penetration of existing markets would suffice.
Several competitors, including Motional, Avride, and Amazon-owned Zoox, are expected to launch commercial robotaxi services by year-end. Whether their entry will fragment demand or validate the market remains to be seen.