Google's Waymo Announces Launch of Autonomous Taxi Services in Four Cities Including Houston

Key Points

• Alphabet's Waymo announced on Tuesday that it has opened its autonomous taxi services to selected public passengers in Dallas, Houston, San Antonio, and Orlando.
• With this multi-city expansion, Waymo now operates in 10 cities across the United States, further strengthening its leading position in the North American autonomous ride-hailing market.
• Waymo is working to secure loyal users ahead of competitors (Tesla, Amazon’s Zoox, and startups like Waabi and Nuro), before they launch large-scale commercial autonomous taxi services in the US.

Alphabet's Waymo announced on Tuesday that it has opened autonomous taxi services to selected public passengers in Dallas, Houston, San Antonio, and Orlando.

Through this multi-city expansion, Waymo now provides services in 10 cities in the US, further expanding its leading advantage in the North American autonomous ride-hailing market. The company is working to attract loyal users and alleviate public concerns — according to a 2025 survey by the American Automobile Association (AAA), 6 out of 10 American drivers have concerns about autonomous vehicles.

This expansion comes as competitors such as Tesla, Amazon’s Zoox, as well as startups like Waabi and Nuro, are all advancing commercial autonomous taxi services in the US market. Leading Asian autonomous driving companies, including Baidu’s Apollo Go and the listed WeRide, are also steadily gaining overseas market share.

Waymo stated that in these four cities, "selected invited users" who have downloaded its app will receive invitations to experience their first local ride. The company plans to gradually invite more passengers and fully open services in these markets by the end of 2026.

In its blog, Waymo said that Tuesday’s expansion “deepens our commitment in Texas and Florida.”

In January this year, Waymo opened services in Miami; last year, it partnered with Uber to begin operations in Austin. Additionally, Waymo offers services in Atlanta, Phoenix, Los Angeles, and the San Francisco Bay Area.

In these four newly launched cities, Waymo will use its fifth-generation autonomous driving system based on the Jaguar I-PACE model. Earlier this month, the company began trial operations for employees and guests in California with its sixth-generation autonomous driving system built on the Geely Ojai all-electric model.

In February this year, Waymo also announced the completion of a $16 billion round of funding, bringing its valuation to $126 billion, with Alphabet as the main investor.

According to documents from the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, as of the end of January, Waymo operated just over 3,000 autonomous vehicles. The automotive safety regulator has launched an investigation into how these vehicles behave around schools and school buses.

Additionally, Waymo faced criticism for its vehicles’ performance during a power outage caused by storms in San Francisco last December: several autonomous vehicles stopped in the middle of the road, worsening traffic congestion.

In a letter to Democratic Senator Edward Markey this month, Waymo stated that it now fulfills over 400,000 paid trips per week nationwide, with the total number of service orders exceeding 20 million.

Markey has called on Waymo and other autonomous driving developers to increase transparency regarding the reliance of autonomous vehicles on human assistance, especially concerning situations where “remote assistants” at customer service centers provide guidance when vehicles encounter complex road conditions.

Editor: Guo Mingyu