Lead
On Feb 24, 2026, Waymo began driverless robotaxi operations in Dallas, Houston, San Antonio and Orlando, bringing its active footprint to 10 U.S. cities. The launches follow Waymo’s phased “select riders” rollout pattern and cover downtown cores plus nearby districts; airports and highways are not included in the new zones. Each area opens to limited public access through the Waymo app and will expand gradually over weeks or months. Waymo’s expansion contrasts with Tesla, which currently does not operate any unmonitored driverless taxi network in the U.S.
Key Takeaways
- Waymo added Dallas, Houston, San Antonio and Orlando on Feb 24, 2026, raising its operating total to 10 cities.
- Coverage sizes for the new areas are approximately 60 sq mi in Orlando and San Antonio, 50 sq mi in Dallas and 25 sq mi in Houston.
- New zones focus on downtowns and nearby neighborhoods; airports and highways are excluded in these launches.
- Waymo continues a staged rollout: internal testing, employee rides, select public riders, then broader invitations over months.
- Waymo lists 18 additional cities “up next,” including London and Tokyo as targets for international expansion.
- Tesla currently operates zero driverless robotaxi cities despite prior public claims of imminent broad availability.
- Competitors vary by model: Zoox runs limited free shuttles in Las Vegas; Cruise halted large-scale L4 operations following a safety incident and regulatory scrutiny.
Background
Waymo began commercial robotaxi services several years earlier and has expanded city by city, favoring cautious geographic growth and detailed mapping before enlarging service areas. Early coverage zones such as Atlanta and Miami were roughly 60 square miles, while larger deployments in Phoenix and San Francisco span hundreds of square miles. The company uses incremental public access to manage risk and gather operational data as it adds streets and neighborhoods.
The U.S. autonomous ride-hailing field is fragmented. Waymo, founded as Google’s self-driving project, has emphasized a sensor suite and geofenced Level 4 autonomy in defined zones. Rival firms have taken different approaches: Tesla has advanced camera-centric driver-assistance software but has not demonstrated wide-area, unmonitored robotaxi fleets; Zoox and Chinese operators (Apollo Go, WeRide) run limited services in constrained environments; Cruise suspended large-scale L4 service after a high-profile incident and regulatory pushback.
Main Event
Waymo announced on Feb 24, 2026 that its vehicles are now serving riders in four additional American cities: Dallas, Houston, San Antonio and Orlando. The company opened these zones to “select riders” at launch, a phased approach that lets engineers observe real-world behavior before increasing fleet access. Riders can download the Waymo app to request inclusion; invitations historically roll out over weeks to months as operations expand.
Operational footprints differ by city: Orlando and San Antonio coverage areas are about 60 square miles each, Dallas about 50 square miles, and Houston roughly 25 square miles, the smallest current area Waymo runs. Orlando’s map emphasizes downtown blocks and major resort corridors (including coverage to Disney World), while the four new zones intentionally omit airports and highway routing at this stage, limiting where vehicles will accept rides.
The new deployments push Waymo’s commercial presence to ten cities in the U.S. and position the company to broaden service gradually. Waymo’s public materials list roughly 18 additional target cities, with London and Tokyo among the first international markets identified. Each new region requires mapping, software tuning for local behavior, and regulatory coordination before full expansion.
Analysis & Implications
Operational scale matters in autonomy, and Waymo’s city-by-city approach prioritizes reliability over instant, nationwide coverage. Starting with smaller, tightly mapped zones reduces exposure to complex edge cases and allows the company to harden perception and planning systems against local driving norms. That cautious expansion model helps explain how Waymo now operates in 10 cities while competitors remain much smaller or inactive.
By contrast, Tesla’s strategy has emphasized leveraging data from millions of consumer cars and a vision of broadly deployable software updates. In practice, the company has not demonstrated a geographically extensive, unmonitored robotaxi fleet and still appears to rely on human oversight where it tests passenger rides. The gap between promise and operational reality highlights the engineering and regulatory challenges of generalizing autonomy beyond mapped service zones.
Economically, city-level rollout lets Waymo control costs and demonstrate user demand metrics to partners and regulators before committing to heavy expansion. Each new footprint establishes local partnerships, insurance arrangements and municipal coordination, which can be expensive and time-consuming but reduce regulatory friction later. International ambitions (London, Tokyo) signal an intent to export the zoned deployment model but will require fresh regulatory approvals and localization efforts.
Comparison & Data
| City/Area | Coverage (sq mi) |
|---|---|
| Orlando | ~60 |
| San Antonio | ~60 |
| Dallas | ~50 |
| Houston | ~25 |
| Miami (recent) | ~60 |
| Phoenix (larger) | hundreds |
The table shows Waymo’s new area sizes alongside earlier deployments. Waymo’s smallest new zone (Houston, ~25 sq mi) contrasts with its largest urban footprints — Phoenix and San Francisco — which span multiple hundreds of square miles. Starting with compact maps reduces exposure to highway speeds and complex regional variations while permitting incremental network growth.
Reactions & Quotes
Waymo framed the launches as cautious, data-driven expansions tailored to specific urban environments and rider demand.
“We are opening these areas to select riders as part of our staged expansion to ensure safe, reliable service.”
Waymo (company statement)
Tesla and its supporters have publicly asserted broader ambitions for robotaxis; critics note the absence of an unmonitored, city-scale Tesla robotaxi network today.
“Robotaxis would be available to half of the US population by the end of last year.”
Elon Musk / Tesla (public statement)
Industry observers emphasize that mapped, geofenced deployments are the proven path to reliable Level 4 service, while broad, unsupervised rollouts carry higher technical and regulatory risk.
“Incremental, mapped deployments reduce exposure to uncommon edge cases and make regulatory approvals more manageable.”
Independent AV analyst (comment)
Unconfirmed
- Tesla operating an unmonitored robotaxi service in the San Francisco Bay Area is not supported by registration or license filings publicized to date.
- Timelines for Waymo’s expansion to all 18 “up next” cities — including international launches in London and Tokyo — remain projected and may change based on local approvals.
- Claims about one company being definitively “safer” across all environments remain subject to peer-reviewed study and regulatory evaluation; firm-specific safety assertions require independent verification.
Bottom Line
Waymo’s Feb 24, 2026 expansion into Dallas, Houston, San Antonio and Orlando underscores the company’s measured playbook: grow by mapping and hardening software in discrete urban zones before widening reach. The four additions raise Waymo’s operational city count to 10 and provide additional real-world data to refine autonomous driving systems and operations.
For competitors, the gap between public promises and audited, city-scale driverless operations remains significant. Tesla has publicly set ambitious targets but, as of this writing, has not demonstrated an unmonitored robotaxi fleet operating citywide in the U.S. The coming months will test whether mapped expansion or broad software-first strategies deliver scalable, regulatorily compliant driverless taxi services.
Sources
- Electrek — independent technology news coverage of Waymo’s Feb 24, 2026 announcement.
- Waymo Cities — official Waymo listing of active and planned service areas (official company information).
- Reuters — independent reporting on autonomous vehicle industry incidents and regulatory developments.