Waymo's Driverless Fleet Now Serves 10 U.S. Cities, Marking a Quiet Turning Point

Waymo, the self-driving car company owned by Alphabet, is now operating its commercial robotaxi service in ten American cities. This expansion, first reported by TechCrunch, moves the firm from a niche experiment into a genuine national operator, with vehicles navigating the streets of Atlanta, Miami, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Austin, among others.

The growth has been methodical. After launching its first fully public service in Phoenix in 2020, the company used that city as a prolonged test bed. San Francisco came next, followed by Los Angeles and Austin in 2024 and early 2025. Each new market presented unique hurdles—from L.A.’s legendary traffic to Austin’s constant construction—providing a stream of data to refine the technology. The company now completes more than 200,000 paid trips weekly across its network.

Financially, the venture remains a long-term investment for Alphabet. While not yet profitable, its annual revenue is estimated in the hundreds of millions. CEO Sundar Pichai has highlighted strong rider satisfaction and repeat usage. The core of Waymo's strategy is a safety-focused system that relies on lidar, radar, and cameras, a contrast to Tesla's camera-only approach. The company points to studies, including one with reinsurer Swiss Re, showing its vehicles have fewer injury-causing incidents per mile than human drivers.

Regulation remains a complex, state-by-state challenge, slowing some rollouts. Competitively, Waymo holds a clear lead. GM's Cruise, after a major safety incident in 2023, is still rebuilding, while Amazon's Zoox and Tesla are in earlier testing phases.

The expansion raises broader questions about the future of urban transport and the workforce. Uber has already integrated Waymo into its app in some cities, a partnership that could redefine the ride-hailing landscape. For now, Waymo’s steady march to ten cities suggests a public growing accustomed to cars without anyone behind the wheel.