Autonomous driving technology company Waymo announced on Tuesday that it's expanding its driverless ride-hailing services to four new cities -- three in Texas and one in Florida. Effective immediately, invitations will roll out to select Waymo customers in Dallas, Houston, San Antonio and Orlando, allowing people there to take their first local robotaxi rides. The new areas for Waymo autonomous ride-hailing span 60 square miles in San Antonio and Orlando, 50 square miles in Dallas, and 25 square miles in Houston, with an initial focus on downtown areas.
Then, on Wednesday, the company announced it was planning to move into the Chicago and Charlotte markets.
This operational expansion is part of a recent trend for the ride-hailing service. Before now, Waymo's driverless rides were available in six US cities. The company's robotaxi service has been expanding its operations in Phoenix, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Atlanta and Austin, Texas. In January, Waymo offered its first driverless rides in Miami. Across all six areas of operation, Waymo's autonomous vehicles have traveled over 200 million cumulative miles.
As far as Chicago and Charlotte, the company said it was beginning "manual mapping and early data collection to lay the early groundwork for operations in these cities."
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More cities to come
In the first quarter of 2026, Waymo doubled the number of American cities where it provides driverless ride-hailing services, with plans for adding more.
Waymo, which is owned by Google's parent company Alphabet, plans to expand even further in 2026. The company is laying the groundwork for future operations in Denver, Nashville, Las Vegas and Washington, DC. Waymo is also looking to expand internationally, with plans to bring its autonomous vehicles to London and Tokyo.
Currently, driverless rides are limited to surface streets in most of the operating areas. While this imposes limitations on how speedy Waymo rides might be, street driving presents more controllable conditions for Waymo's autonomous cars. In November, Waymo started a public pilot offering autonomous freeway rides in Phoenix, San Francisco and Los Angeles.
In addition to expanding services to new US metropolitan areas, Waymo has been experimenting with a new generation of autonomous vehicles. While users are currently hailing the electric Jaguar I-Pace in every city where Waymo provides consumer-facing operations, that might change very soon.
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