Waymo’s robotaxi expansion accelerates with 3 new cities

Waymo announced plans to expand its robotaxi service to three new cities—Detroit, Las Vegas, and San Diego—marking a significant acceleration in its commercial rollout. This move reflects Waymo’s transition from primarily developing autonomous vehicle technology to operating a large-scale commercial enterprise. The company aims to offer 1 million trips per week by the end of 2026, up from over 250,000 rides per week reported in April 2025. Waymo’s expansion strategy involves initially deploying human-driven vehicles to map city streets, followed by driverless testing phases before opening services to employees, media, select consumers, and eventually the general public. Waymo will introduce a fleet of self-driving Jaguar I-Pace and Zeekr RT vehicles in the three new markets, leveraging its experience in these cities and its engineering presence in Detroit. The company has prepared for challenging conditions such as Detroit’s winter weather by extensive testing in the region. This rapid expansion is attributed to Waymo’s generalized self-driving