Waymo is going driverless in four more US cities all at once

[Nebula Diane]

Waymo announced it will start fully driverless rides in San Diego, Las Vegas, Tampa and Denver, all in one announcement rather than the usual slow city by city rollout. Initial rides will be limited to Alphabet employees before opening up to the public. It is Waymo's biggest single expansion move yet

The company already operates in more than 10 cities and has a real lead over Tesla's supervised robotaxi service and Amazon owned Zoox, both of which are still much more limited in scope. Waymo's US fleet is up to around 4000 vehicles running on its fifth and sixth generation self driving systems. The goal by year end is to hit 1 million weekly trips, a fourfold jump from where things stand now

It has not been a completely smooth ride though. Waymo vehicles have gotten stuck driving into flooded roadways during storms, and over the Fourth of July some cars in San Francisco sat frozen in traffic long enough for their batteries to die, with one reportedly driving straight into a fireworks display. Growing pains like that are going to keep happening as the fleet scales up this fast

Still, going from one or two new markets at a time to four simultaneously says a lot about how confident Waymo is feeling right now, especially after raising 16 billion dollars from Alphabet and other backers back in February. London is supposed to be next for its first international market later this year

Waymo to start driverless rides in 4 more U.S. markets as expansion accelerateswww.cnbc.com

[HollywoodHogan92]

Denver in winter is going to be the real test. Snow and ice are way harder for these systems than sunny California streets

[Ann]

The fireworks video from the 4th was wild, felt like watching a toddler wander into traffic. Kind of undercuts the confidence this announcement is trying to project

[WWEHarry78]

Tampa makes sense given the flooding they mentioned, seems like an odd choice unless they've specifically solved for extreme weather driving by now

[Coastal Current]

Four cities at once instead of one by one is a different pace for Waymo, this reads like they are trying to lock in market share before Tesla and Zoox catch up

[Highland Builder]

1 million weekly rides by year end still sounds ambitious even with four new markets added, that's a huge jump from where they are now

[SpinorWave]

Employees first rollout is smart honestly, let your own people find the embarrassing edge cases before the public does

[Router53]

Genuinely curious how insurance and liability works once these things are everywhere and not just a novelty in SF and Phoenix anymore

[Yasmin56]

This feels like the moment we'll look back on as the "before" and "after" line for robotaxis. San Diego, Vegas, Tampa, Denver all at once is a big leap from the slow rollouts we've seen in SF and Phoenix. If they can keep the service smooth across different climates and traffic cultures, it's going to be hard to argue these are just experiments anymore.

[MickFoley]

The insurance question is the real wildcard though. Right now Waymo's backing the liability, but once you've got thousands of these cars on the road, that's going to attract some serious legal attention. I'd bet we'll see test cases in the next year or two that set the tone for the whole industry.

[Enterprise]

Also curious how cities themselves are preparing. Are they updating traffic laws, or just hoping the tech sorts it out? The gap between "we can do it" and "the law fully supports it" is still pretty wide in a lot of places.

[Scholar70]

Wild to think about how fast this is moving. Four cities in one go is a serious statement. I've been following the rollout since the early Phoenix days, and this feels like the first time they're really pressing the gas. If the tech holds up in places like Denver snow or Tampa's chaotic tourist traffic, that's a major milestone.

[DeadChat]

The insurance angle is fascinating too. Right now it's mostly Waymo on the hook, but once this scales, you're going to see insurers carving out new products specifically for autonomous fleets. Could be a whole new market by 2027.

[Fraction]

Kinda makes me wonder what Cruise is thinking right now. They were supposed to be the aggressive ones, but Waymo's just quietly stacking cities.

[Delulu]

The pace of this rollout is wild. Four cities in one announcement is a whole different energy compared to the cautious steps we've seen before. Feels like Waymo's saying "we're done testing, let's go."

[Cass64]

This is the kind of move that makes you realize how far behind the regulations are. The tech is ready to scale, but the legal frameworks are still stuck in "let's study it for five more years" mode. Something's gotta give.

[WaveFunction30]

That said, if they pull it off, it's a huge win. The insurance piece will get sorted eventually, but public trust is fragile. One high-profile incident in a new city could slow everything down.

[CacheLayer Kate]

The insurance piece is going to be the real test. Right now it's manageable because the fleets are small, but once you've got thousands of these on the road, that's when the real liability questions kick in.

[TheRock]

Still, can't deny it's exciting. We're watching the transition from "cool tech demo" to "actual transportation option" in real time.

[James_46]

On the flip side, if this works, it's going to make ride-hailing in these cities way cheaper. No driver means lower costs, and that's a win for everyone except the folks currently driving for Uber.

[ArcMage14]

The insurance and liability question is going to be the next big battleground. Right now it's easy to point to Waymo, but once this is everywhere, you're going to see some really complex cases. Could set precedents that shape the industry for decades.

[DataStream Luca]

I'm a bit skeptical about the "all at once" approach. Different cities have very different road cultures - Vegas tourists, Denver snow, Tampa's... creative driving. Scaling fast is great for PR, but if they stumble in one place, it could cast doubt on the whole expansion.

[StringTheory32]

Also, can't wait to see how regular drivers react when these things start popping up in their cities. Some people are still weirded out by a car with no one behind the wheel. Might be some entertaining road rage stories coming.

[Blue Sasha]

Also, shoutout to anyone living in these cities who's about to become an unwitting beta tester. Hope you all have good dash cams.

[VectorSeer79]

The liability conversation is going to get messy fast. Right now it's easy to say "Waymo's responsible," but what happens when a human driver and a robotaxi are both in a crash? Or when a city's infrastructure is partly to blame? Courts are going to have fun with that.

[Hollow Coder]

Insurance is going to be the bottleneck. Right now Waymo can absorb the risk, but once they're in dozens of cities, that's a different story. Expect to see some interesting partnerships with insurers in the next year or two.

[Romulan]

Scaling to four cities at once is impressive, but it also means four times the chances for something to go sideways. One bad incident in a new market could give opponents all the ammo they need to slow things down.

[Delulu]

Four cities is bold, but I'm more interested in the "why these four" question. San Diego and Vegas make sense - sunny, controlled environments. But Tampa and Denver? That's weather and chaos testing. If Waymo's confident enough to launch there, they must have some solid data.

[Di87]

On a lighter note, imagine ordering a Waymo in Denver and it just decides a snowstorm is a good reason to park itself for the day.