Waymo currently offers 500,000 paid robotaxi rides each week in 10 U.S. cities, the company shared in an X post this week. The impressive numbers reflect the Alphabet-owned company’s accelerated commercial expansion. But it’s Waymo’s ridership and market growth rates that provide a more compelling story.
In less than two years, the company’s weekly paid robo-taxi trips have increased tenfold, from 50,000 a week in May 2024 to 500,000 now. Over the same two-year period, Waymo expanded within its original markets of Phoenix, San Francisco, and Los Angeles, and beyond to Austin, Atlanta, Miami, Dallas, Houston, San Antonio, and Orlando. All seven of these cities in the Sunbelt were added in just the last year.
Waymo’s robotaxi fleet is also increasing, but the company is guarding its numbers and providing few updates. According to data provided to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) in December 2025, the company had 3,067 robotaxis equipped with fifth-generation self-driving systems. The company still uses its “more than 3,000” vehicle numbers. This situation could soon change with the introduction of the 6th generation self-driving system, which will be installed in the Zeekr minivan known as Ojai and the Hyundai Ioniq 5.
A fairly stable number of 3,000 vehicles and an increase in the number of paid rides each week suggests that Waymo is squeezing more profit out of each robotaxi. This usage figure is especially important because empty Waymo cars roaming San Francisco and other places don’t bring in any profit and increase congestion.
That growth comes with challenges. Waymo has come under increased scrutiny from the public and regulators in recent months. For example, NHTSA and the National Transportation Safety Board are investigating illegal activities of Waymo robotaxis around school buses. Meanwhile, San Francisco city officials have raised concerns about the way Waymo is handling robotaxis strandings, including occasionally sending in police and firefighters to remove vehicles.
Waymo’s ridership is just a fraction of Uber’s human-powered ride-hailing business. Uber completed approximately 13.5 billion rides in 2025, according to its securities filings, but that figure also includes completed ride-hailing and delivery trips. The closest pure ride number was shared during an August 2024 earnings call in which Uber announced it completed more than 1 million mobility trips per hour.
In other words, Waymo isn’t chewing on Uber’s tires yet.
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Still, the company’s lead in robotaxi rides is widening with each passing month.
Many companies are vying for a piece of the robo-taxi pie, but many are yet to offer fully self-driving ride-hailing services for a fee. There are several Chinese robotaxi companies that charge for robotaxi rides, including Pony.ai and WeRide, but none operate in the United States.
Tesla began operating a paid robo-taxi service in Austin in January, and CEO Elon Musk said the company was close to offering a fully self-driving ride-hailing service in California, but lacked any necessary permits to do so. Other companies such as Avride, Hyundai’s Motional, and Zoox are also pushing to offer paid robotaxis services in various markets by the end of the year.
They all need to catch up.
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