Waymo will begin dispatching its robotaxis in Orlando as it expands the territory covered by its fleet of self-driving cars to 10 major U.S. metropolitan markets.<\/p>\n
The additions, which include Dallas, Houston and San Antonio, announced Tuesday, widen Waymo’s early lead in autonomous driving while rival services from Tesla<\/a> and the Amazon-owned Zoox<\/a> are still testing vehicles in only a few U.S. cities.<\/p>\n In contrast, Waymo’s robotaxis already provide more than 400,000 weekly trips in the six metropolitan areas where they have been transporting passengers: Phoenix, the San Francisco Bay Area, Los Angeles, Miami, Atlanta, and Austin, Texas.<\/p>\n Waymo operates its ride-hailing service through its app in all the cities except Atlanta<\/a> and Austin<\/a>, where its robotaxis can only be summoned through Uber’s ride-hailing service.<\/p>\n The expansion into four more markets marks a significant step toward Waymo’s goal to surpass 1 million weekly paid trips by the end of 2026. Without identifying where its robotaxis will be available next, Waymo is targeting a list of eight other cities that include Las Vegas, Washington, Detroit and Boston while signaling its first overseas availability is likely to be London.<\/p>\n