Waymo, Zoox Expand Robotaxis to More US Cities

What happened

Alphabet's Waymo and Amazon's Zoox separately announced expansions of their driverless ride-hailing operations into new U.S. cities this week, intensifying competition in the fast-growing robotaxi market. Waymo said it is now offering fully driverless rides to customers in San Diego, Tampa and Denver, marking its first commercial operations in Colorado.

Zoox, meanwhile, said it will begin testing its distinctively shaped, purpose-built robotaxis in Houston and San Diego, initially using human safety drivers aboard retrofitted vehicles before eventually deploying its driverless models. The moves bring Zoox's overall footprint to 12 U.S. markets.

Why it matters

The expansions underscore how quickly the autonomous ride-hailing market is scaling, with Goldman Sachs Research projecting the U.S. robotaxi industry will grow from roughly $3 billion next year to $19 billion by 2030 and $48 billion by 2035.

The announcements also land just days ahead of a planned Tesla event where the company is expected to share new details about its driverless Cybercab and Robotaxi ride-hailing ambitions, setting up a three-way competitive dynamic between established players and a well-funded new entrant.

Evidence and context

Waymo currently holds a commanding lead in the sector, operating more than 4,000 vehicles across its now 14-city footprint and completing over 500,000 robotaxi rides each week nationwide, with a stated goal of crossing 1 million weekly rides by the end of the year. Its newest vehicle, the Ojai, is built on a Zeekr minivan-style chassis and includes automatic sliding doors, large in-car screens and Gemini-powered entertainment features.

Zoox remains earlier in its commercial rollout, having only recently begun paid service in Las Vegas alongside a free rider program in San Francisco. The company said its new testing markets will initially rely on manual mapping using retrofitted vehicles before its purpose-built, steering-wheel-free robotaxis are introduced.

Hundreds over time.

— a Waymo spokesperson, describing the company's fleet targets for its newest markets

The people and places affected

Riders in Denver, San Diego, Tampa, and Houston will see driverless or human-supervised test vehicles on their streets for the first time as part of these expansions, with Waymo saying dozens of vehicles will initially operate in each new city before scaling toward the hundreds over time.

The expansions also extend beyond the U.S., with Waymo separately testing operations in Munich, Germany, as it eyes international commercial service by late 2027, reflecting the broader global ambitions driving investment in the sector.

The open questions

How quickly Zoox can close the gap with Waymo's head start remains an open question, given that its new markets begin with human-supervised testing rather than commercial driverless service.

It's also unclear how Tesla's approach, which relies primarily on cameras rather than the sensor suites used by Waymo and Zoox, will perform at scale once the company shares more details about its robotaxi strategy this week.

What comes next

Tesla's upcoming event is expected to be a pivotal moment for the broader robotaxi race, potentially reshaping investor and public perception of how competitive the field will become in the coming years.

Waymo and Zoox are both expected to continue phased rollouts in their new markets, with rider access expanding gradually as each company works through local regulatory approval and operational testing.