Waymo is accelerating its rapid expansion across the U.S. with the launch of fully autonomous ride-hailing in five new cities: Miami, Dallas, Houston, San Antonio, and Orlando. The company announced the news today, noting that operations begin immediately in Miami, with the remaining four cities set to follow over the coming weeks ahead of opening doors to riders next year.
“While going rider-only was once considered a technical feat, it’s become routine for Waymo,” the company said in its blog post. “We’ve built a generalizable Driver, powered by Waymo’s demonstrably safe AI, and an operational playbook to reliably achieve this milestone, and our safety- and community-first approach, enables us to bring it to riders faster than ever.”
The rollout marks Waymo’s biggest U.S. expansion yet. Miami has already been a major testing ground for the company, while the Dallas deployment follows Waymo’s July announcement to bring robotaxis to the city. The company also announced earlier this summer that it plans to return to New York City, though that service will initially rely on human safety drivers.
Waymo’s momentum isn’t limited to the U.S., either. Last month, the company confirmed it will bring its fully driverless ride-hailing service to London in 2026 — its second international robotaxi market after initial testing in Tokyo.
The announcement also arrives just days after Waymo expanded its driverless operations to freeways and airports across the San Francisco Bay Area, Phoenix, and Los Angeles. With today’s news, the Alphabet-owned company is clearly ramping up to deploy its autonomous “Waymo Driver” at an unprecedented scale.
Waymo emphasized the consistency and safety of its approach in its announcement: “We compare our driving performance against a proven baseline to validate the performance of the Waymo Driver and identify any unique local characteristics. As needed, we then refine the Waymo Driver’s AI to navigate these local nuances.”
“This data feeds into a flywheel of continuous improvement, bolstered by rigorous validation through real-world driving and advanced simulation, then implemented through regular software releases. The result is that all of our riders experience consistent, high-quality service with the highest safety standards. The data demonstrates the Waymo Driver is improving road safety in the cities we serve, including involvement in 11 times fewer serious injury collisions compared to human drivers.”
The company also underscored its community-first strategy as it grows: “Successfully scaling requires more than just world-class technology and operations; it requires earning the trust of those we seek to serve. We are committed to bringing policymakers, regulators, safety officials, and community partners on the journey with us… This commitment is how we will continue to bring the safe, reliable, and magical ride-hail experience to more Waymo riders around the globe.”
With five new cities going live and more in the queue, 2026 is shaping up to be Waymo’s biggest year yet — and the autonomous ride-hailing race is about to get a whole lot more interesting.
