Waymo goes driverless in Las Vegas, with Denver, San Diego, Tampa next
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- Waymo activated fully driverless service in Las Vegas with no human at the wheel, with Denver, San Diego, and Tampa queued as the next three markets.
- The company operates roughly 3,500 robotaxis, has surpassed 20 million trips, and is targeting 1 million paid rides per week by end of 2026.
- Waymo's $16 billion raise at a $126 billion valuation — the largest investment ever in an autonomous vehicle company — is funding the city-by-city rollout.
- The purpose-built Ojai robotaxi, running 6th-generation Driver hardware, is the first vehicle Waymo designed from the ground up rather than retrofitting a consumer car.
- Tesla's rival robotaxi service covers just ~245 square miles with roughly 20 driverless vehicles in Austin, with any major fleet ramp tied to FSD v15, targeted for late 2026 or early 2027.
- Tampa is a fresh addition to Waymo's expansion list, beyond the previously disclosed 2026 targets of Washington, Detroit, Las Vegas, San Diego, Denver, and Orlando.
Why it matters: Waymo's roughly 3,500-vehicle, 11-city driverless network now stands against Tesla's ~20-vehicle Austin pilot, and the $16B raised at a $126B valuation gives Waymo the capital to keep flipping cities to fully driverless while Tesla waits on FSD v15, targeted for late 2026 or early 2027.
