Waymo is scaling faster than at any point in its history. The Alphabet-owned company now averages about 500,000 paid robotaxi rides a week from a fleet of roughly 4,000 vehicles. At the same time, it has released new safety data covering 270 million fully autonomous miles. Together, the fleet figures and the safety report show a robotaxi business that is moving from pilot programme to real transport network.
The figures come from state vehicle registration data analysed by TechCrunch and from Waymo's own safety update, both published on September 24. They land as Tesla's Cybercab enters service in Austin and city councils from Minneapolis to Europe are debating how far to let driverless cars spread.
The Fleet Numbers
Two years ago, Waymo carried paying passengers in just three cities: Phoenix, Los Angeles and San Francisco. It now operates in 15 US cities. About 80% of its fleet is concentrated in California and Texas.
Texas has seen the steepest growth:
- Waymo's Texas fleet grew 49% in three weeks, reaching 1,102 registered vehicles as of September 24.
- That is up from about 600 vehicles in June and just over 700 in August.
- Texas service now covers Austin, Dallas, Houston and San Antonio. Waymo also runs in three Florida cities and in Las Vegas.
For comparison, Texas registration data from early September showed 420 Tesla autonomous vehicles in the state: 375 Model Ys plus 45 Cybercabs.
Enter the Ojai
Much of the new capacity comes from a new vehicle. Alongside its familiar white Jaguar I-Pace SUVs, Waymo is deploying a minivan built by Zeekr, the electric brand owned by China's Geely Holding Group. Waymo calls it Ojai, and the vehicles are fitted out at Waymo's factory in Arizona. Ojai minivans already make up about a third of the Texas fleet. Analysts at MoffettNathanson estimate Waymo is on track to bring about 5,100 of the vehicles into the US by the end of the year.
The Chinese-built platform could become a political flashpoint as Washington tightens rules on connected-vehicle technology from China. For now, it is what lets Waymo grow its fleet faster than its earlier Jaguar-based pipeline allowed.
What the Safety Data Shows
Waymo's latest safety update covers 270 million autonomous miles through the end of June 2026 in Atlanta, Austin, Los Angeles, Phoenix and San Francisco. Waymo describes that as more than 300 human lifetimes of driving. Compared against human-driver benchmarks for the same roads, the company reports:
- 82% fewer injury-causing crashes, or 841 fewer such crashes than human drivers would be expected to have over the same distance.
- 95% fewer crashes causing serious injury or worse, about 20 times fewer.
- 93% fewer pedestrian injury crashes, 86% fewer cyclist injury crashes and 82% fewer motorcyclist injury crashes.
These are Waymo's own numbers and comparisons. Independent analyses, including insurance-industry studies, have broadly pointed in the same direction. Critics still argue that benchmark choices and differences in operating conditions deserve closer scrutiny.
New Riders, New Markets
Waymo is also working to widen its customer base. In September it opened rides to teenagers aged 13 to 17 in Nashville, the second city where minors can use the service. It also launched a Bay Area rewards programme for riders who combine Waymo trips with public transit. Internationally, it has announced plans for Singapore and a Tokyo rider launch in 2027 with Nihon Kotsu and GO. It has also partnered with Allianz Partners on insurance for planned European services in London and Munich.
Not every city is welcoming. In Minneapolis, where Waymo is test-driving, some council members want driverless taxi companies to keep a human monitor in the driver's seat. They cite safety and possible job losses for ride-hail drivers.
Why It Matters
Half a million paid rides a week means robotaxis are no longer a demo. They are a real, if still small, part of urban transport in several US metros. This matters for the whole embodied AI sector. Waymo is the clearest proof so far that a robot making safety-critical decisions in open, unpredictable environments can be deployed at commercial scale. The playbook it followed has been years of data collection, staged city launches and heavy investment in validation, and humanoid and delivery-robot makers are now trying to repeat it.
The fleet growth also raises the stakes. With more vehicles on the road, rare failure modes will surface more often in absolute terms, even if rates keep falling. Regulators will be watching those absolute numbers. Waymo's ability to keep its safety record while quickly bringing in a new vehicle platform like the Ojai will likely shape the rules for the next wave of autonomous robots.
