Waymo expands robotaxis to Denver, San Diego, and Tampa

Waymo has started offering its robotaxi service to the public in Denver, San Diego, and Tampa, extending the Alphabet-owned company’s commercial operations to 14 U.S. cities. The company said Tuesday it will invite riders on a rolling basis and slowly ramp up access in the three cities, following its usual commercial playbook. The expansion has grown its fleet of self-driving Jaguar I-Pace hatchbacks and a new minivan called the Ojai to more than 4,000 vehicles.

The launch comes as Tesla pushes to close the gap in the robotaxi market: it now charges for rides in its driverless Model Y vehicles in Austin, Dallas, Houston, Miami, Orlando, and Tampa, with service limited in some markets but expanding, and is banking on its steering-wheel-free Cybercab to speed up its efforts. Waymo’s expansion push, which kicked into gear 18 months ago, has cemented its position as the U.S. robotaxi market leader; the company operated in Phoenix for years before receiving, in August 2023, the permits needed to charge for driverless rides in San Francisco, later expanding across the Bay Area and into Los Angeles in 2024.

It wasn’t until March 2025, when Waymo opened its robotaxis to riders in Austin through a partnership with Uber, that its growth plan took hold; since then, it has launched commercial service in seven more cities, including Atlanta, Dallas, Houston, Miami, Nashville, Orlando, and San Antonio. Last month, the Nevada Transportation Authority unanimously approved a permit allowing Waymo to operate up to 1,000 autonomous vehicles over the next year in Clark County, home to Las Vegas; Tesla and Uber received permits from the same agency. Waymo is also planning robotaxi service in London and Munich.

Waymo typically follows the same playbook in each new market: mapping and testing its technology, removing the human safety operator, and eventually opening the service to employees, media, and other invited guests before paying riders — timing that often hinges on local regulations, since states like California require permits from two separate agencies covering deployment and the ability to charge fares. In Denver and San Diego, the Ojai, Waymo’s next-generation, cheaper-to-build minivan, will be the only vehicle available to riders; its fleet is still small at about 300, compared with the larger I-Pace fleet, but is expected to grow quickly as Waymo chases profitability alongside growth.

Why it matters

Waymo’s rapid multi-city rollout, against Tesla’s parallel robotaxi push, shows the fight for U.S. autonomous-ride market share accelerating on both cost and geographic fronts, with international expansion to London and Munich next.