Waymo Launches Miami Robotaxis as It Races Toward 1 Million Weekly Rides by 2026

New updates have been reported about Waymo.

Waymo has opened its driverless robotaxi service to the public in Miami, marking another step in its national expansion and scaling strategy for autonomous ride-hailing. The company is onboarding nearly 10,000 local residents from a waitlist on a rolling basis, giving accepted users access to fully driverless rides across a 60-square-mile service zone that includes key commercial and residential neighborhoods such as the Design District, Wynwood, Brickell, and Coral Gables, with service to Miami International Airport planned but not yet dated. This commercial launch follows months of mapping, public-road testing, and the removal of human safety operators in November, initially for employee-only service, reflecting Waymo’s phased go-to-market playbook already used in Phoenix, San Francisco, Los Angeles and other metros. In parallel, Waymo is deploying a mixed fleet of all-electric Jaguar I-Pace vehicles and its rebranded Zeekr RT “Ojai” vans as it pushes into more complex environments, including freeway operations in existing markets.

Miami is one node in a more aggressive rollout in which Waymo aims to operate robotaxis in nearly a dozen additional cities over the next year, including Dallas, Denver, Detroit, Houston, Las Vegas, Nashville, London, San Diego, Seattle, and Washington, D.C., and to support its previously announced goal, reiterated by co-CEO Tekedra Mawakana, of delivering about 1 million trips per week by the end of 2026. The company has also partnered with Uber in Atlanta and Austin, using that channel to drive demand and utilization. However, the expansion carries operational and regulatory risk: residents in San Francisco have documented traffic disruptions involving Waymo vehicles, and the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has opened an investigation into how the company’s robotaxis behave around stopped school buses, following incidents and complaints in Atlanta and Austin. Waymo issued a voluntary software recall to address the bus-passing behavior, but recent videos suggesting continued violations signal that safety performance, regulatory scrutiny, and public acceptance remain critical factors for the company’s growth trajectory and any future capital or partnership discussions.