Waymo hits 500,000 weekly paid robotaxi rides

Waymo is now providing 500,000 paid robotaxi rides every week across 10 U.S. cities. This milestone represents a tenfold increase in average weekly paid robotaxi trips for the Alphabet-owned company, rising from 50,000 weekly trips in May 2024. Over this period, the company expanded its operations within its initial markets of Phoenix, San Francisco, and Los Angeles, and entered seven additional cities across the Sun Belt: Austin, Atlanta, Miami, Dallas, Houston, San Antonio, and Orlando.

This rapid expansion has occurred alongside a relatively stable fleet size. Data provided in December 2025 to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) showed that Waymo had 3,067 robotaxis equipped with its 5th generation self-driving system, and the company continues to reference an “over 3,000” fleet number. The combination of a steady fleet size and growing weekly rides suggests that Waymo is squeezing more out of each robotaxi, improving its vehicle utilization rates.

However, this commercial progress is accompanied by regulatory scrutiny. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and the National Transportation Safety Board are investigating the “illegal behavior of Waymo robotaxis around school buses”. Additionally, local officials have raised concerns regarding “stuck robotaxis” and the company’s “occasional use of police and firefighters to clear its vehicles”.

Despite these challenges, Waymo maintains a significant lead over its autonomous rivals, though it remains a fraction of the size of traditional ride-hailing networks. Waymo is not nipping at Uber’s tires just yet; Uber completed some 13.5 billion trips in 2025 and reported completing more than 1 million mobility trips per hour during its August 2024 earning call.

Meanwhile, other autonomous vehicle developers are trying to catch up. Chinese competitors Pony.ai and WeRide operate paid robotaxi services but do not operate in the United States. In the U.S., Tesla began operating a paid robotaxi service in Austin in January, but it lacks any of the required permits to operate a fully autonomous ride-hailing service in California. Other players, including Avride, Motional, and Zoox, are also working toward launching paid robotaxi services.

Why it matters

Waymo’s rapid growth in ridership and market expansion, coupled with its ability to increase utilization of its existing fleet, highlights its commercial progress despite ongoing regulatory scrutiny and competition.