Waymo Adds Nearly 250 Square Miles Across 5 Cities — SkimNews
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- Waymo is adding nearly 250 square miles of service over the next week across Los Angeles, Nashville, Orlando, San Diego and the San Francisco Bay Area, in markets where its robotaxis already run without a driver.
- San Diego coverage now reaches La Jolla, taking in University City and Clairemont, less than two months after the market opened to public riders on September 1 with roughly 50 square miles between the beach and I-15.
- Orlando east-side coverage nearly doubles and downtown service expands, while Nashville's zone pushes farther south to the zoo.
- San Francisco Bay Area service now runs from San Francisco down the Peninsula to San Jose and Campbell, with a connection to BART at Berryessa station, while Los Angeles coverage reaches Manhattan Beach, Redondo Beach and Torrance.
- Waymo now operates in 15 U.S. metros and reports more than 500,000 paid rides per week, after passing 1,400 square miles across 11 cities in May.
- Robotaxi Tracker counted 34 vehicles in Houston after Tesla stretched its geofence to about 254 square miles this week; Waymo did not disclose how many vehicles it will add for its five-market expansion.
- Tesla logged 558,000 driverless miles in its latest reported week, mostly in Austin, versus Waymo's 3.9 million rider-only miles per week in Q2 2026—about seven times as many—on a day Elon Musk said the robotaxi race against Waymo “was never a real contest.”
Why it matters: Waymo riders gain nearly 250 square miles of driverless coverage, but the more consequential competitive gap is measured use: Waymo logged 3.9 million rider-only miles per week in Q2 2026 versus Tesla’s 558,000 in its latest reported week, about seven times as many. Tesla’s roughly 254-square-mile Houston map included just 34 tracked vehicles.
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