Waymo Accelerates U.S. Robotaxi Expansion and Raises $16 Billion at $126 Billion Valuation

New updates have been reported about Waymo.

Waymo is rapidly broadening its commercial robotaxi footprint, opening its service to the public in Dallas, Houston, San Antonio, and Orlando as it pushes to convert autonomous driving technology into scaled, revenue-generating networks. The rollouts mirror its previous market entries: early access will be granted to selected users via the Waymo app starting Tuesday, followed by a phased ramp-up until the service is open to all riders in each city.

This expansion builds on a year of aggressive growth from a base that, as of last February, included commercial services in Phoenix, parts of Los Angeles, and San Francisco, where Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai said Waymo was delivering more than 200,000 rides per week. Over the last 12 months, Waymo has significantly enlarged its operating areas, particularly in the San Francisco Bay Area down Highway 101 to San Jose, gained access to three major airports including San Francisco International, launched a partnership service with Uber in Atlanta and Austin, extended operations to freeways in three cities, and opened service to the public in Miami.

While the company is withholding updated utilization metrics, the last disclosed figure indicated more than 400,000 rides per week, and management now targets surpassing one million weekly rides by year-end, underscoring the scale ambitions behind the current rollout. To support this push, Waymo secured an additional $16 billion in capital from investors including Dragoneer Investment Group, DST Global, and Sequoia Capital, implying a valuation of roughly $126 billion and giving the business substantial financial capacity to fund vehicle deployment, operations, and regulatory engagement.

Waymo currently operates a fleet of about 3,000 robotaxis across Atlanta, Austin, Los Angeles, Miami, Phoenix, and the broader San Francisco Bay Area, with incremental vehicles to be deployed into the four new markets over time rather than in a single large-scale surge. The company plans to start with dozens of vehicles in each new city and scale supply in line with demand, while also growing its workforce of remote assistance staff who monitor operations and intervene when the self-driving system encounters complex scenarios.

Management emphasizes that expansion will be paced by an internal planning process designed to match fleet and staffing to growth, and Waymo recently disclosed that it employs about 70 remote assistance workers today, a figure expected to rise as its footprint widens. At the same time, the company is operating under heightened regulatory and public safety scrutiny: the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has opened an investigation following a low-speed incident in which a Waymo robotaxi struck a child near a Santa Monica school, and the National Transportation Safety Board is separately reviewing vehicle behavior around school buses.

Co-CEO Tekedra Mawakana reiterated that the company’s long-term objective remains unchanged despite these investigations, framing the current expansion and capital raise as steps toward operating in more than 20 cities worldwide. In addition to the newly announced markets, Waymo plans to launch services in Denver, London, and Washington, D.C. later this year, positioning the company as a leading contender in the global autonomous ride-hailing market and signaling to investors and partners that the business is transitioning from pilot scale to a multi-city, multi-continent operating platform.