Waymo Prepares Major Texas and Florida Robotaxi Expansion for 2026
Waymo is accelerating its nationwide autonomous driving rollout, announcing Tuesday that it will introduce its robotaxi service into five major Texas and Florida metros starting next year. The Alphabet-owned company plans to begin operating vehicles without any human specialists in Dallas, Houston, San Antonio, Miami, and Orlando in the weeks ahead — the final step before opening the service to the public in 2026.
The company will initially offer fully autonomous rides to its employees as part of a staged rollout. Public availability will follow once safety and route coverage reach Waymo’s internal thresholds.
This marks a broader phase of commercial scale for Waymo, which said it is now doubling the number of cities where it runs driverless operations.
A Growing National Footprint
Waymo is already active in five major US cities — San Francisco, Phoenix, Austin, Atlanta, and Los Angeles — where its paid robotaxi service has been steadily expanding since 2020. The company has completed more than 10 million paid rides, making it the most commercially advanced autonomous driving operator in the US.
Its 2026 pipeline is even larger. Waymo has also announced future launches in:
- Detroit
- Las Vegas
- Nashville
- San Diego
- Washington, D.C.
- London
Waymo is testing additional markets including New York City and Tokyo — two of the world’s most complex urban driving environments.
Last week, the company expanded its capabilities by rolling out freeway autonomous routes in San Francisco, Phoenix, and Los Angeles, with plans to expand highway coverage across more cities.
Robotaxi Competition Heats Up
Waymo’s announcement came on the same day Amazon-owned Zoox began allowing limited San Francisco users to hail its own driverless vehicles. Zoox now runs free robotaxi service in both San Francisco and Las Vegas, deploying a fleet of roughly 50 vehicles.
The competitive landscape is tightening as major tech and automotive players accelerate their autonomous plans — with regulatory tailwinds stronger in Sun Belt states like Texas and Florida, where both companies are expanding.
Waymo’s broader 2026 launch map signals that the commercial robotaxi market may be approaching a true inflection point, driven by maturing technology and increasing state-level support for autonomous mobility.
WSA Take
Waymo’s move into Texas and Florida shows where the autonomous race is headed: large, high-growth metros where regulators are friendly, traffic volume is high, and the business case for robotaxis is strong. As competition heats up, the winners will be defined by scale — both in fleets and compute.
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