# Methodology — Waymo in America **Last updated:** May 6, 2026 **Maintainer:** Vital City This map shows where Waymo operates U.S. robotaxi service, where it has announced 2026 launches, where it has tested without commercial deployment, and how state law treats driverless commercial operation. Nothing here is a black box — every status, date, and classification is sourced below. --- ## What's on the map ### City status Three categories: - **Operating (public rides)** — anyone can book a ride from the Waymo app or, in some cities, the Uber or Lyft app. - **Announced for 2026** — Waymo has publicly committed to launch but service isn't yet open to the public. - **Tested, not operating** — Waymo has driven cars in the city (typically with safety drivers) but no commercial service exists, and there is no near-term path to one. ### State legal landscape Three categories, layered as a light background tint: - **Permissive** — driverless commercial operation is legally allowed under existing state law (with permitting requirements that vary). - **No autonomous-vehicle statute** — the state has not enacted AV-specific legislation; operation is neither explicitly authorized nor prohibited, and varies by interpretation. - **Effectively bars driverless commercial** — state law or regulation requires a human safety operator behind the wheel at all times, has no commercial pathway, or has explicitly excluded commercial driverless rideshare. Currently New York, Massachusetts, and New Jersey. **This landscape changes often.** State legislatures are actively considering AV bills; classifications here reflect publicly reported status as of the "last updated" date and should be re-checked before publication. --- ## City-by-city sources ### Operating (11 cities, ~3,000 vehicles total) | City | Public launch | Notes | |---|---|---| | Phoenix, AZ | October 2020 | First public Waymo One market. | | San Francisco Bay Area, CA | August 2024 | Largest market — over a third of Waymo's fleet, per Carbon Credits/Axios reporting. | | Los Angeles, CA | November 2024 | Public service across central LA County. | | Austin, TX | March 2025 | Public rides via the Uber app. | | Atlanta, GA | June 2025 | Public rides via the Uber app. | | Miami, FL | January 22, 2026 | Public service via the Waymo app. | | Dallas, TX | February 24, 2026 | Fully driverless public service. | | Houston, TX | February 24, 2026 | Fully driverless public service. | | San Antonio, TX | February 24, 2026 | Fully driverless public service. | | Orlando, FL | February 24, 2026 | Fully driverless public service. | | Nashville, TN | April 7, 2026 | Waymo's first Lyft-partnered city. Dozens of vehicles in a 60-square-mile area; rolling-invite rollout. | Sources: - TechCrunch, "Waymo opens robotaxi service in Nashville, partners with Lyft," Apr. 7, 2026. - TechCrunch, "Waymo continues robotaxi ramp up with Miami service now open to public," Jan. 22, 2026. - TechCrunch, "Waymo robotaxis are now operating in 10 US cities," Feb. 24, 2026. - Axios, "Waymo robotaxis now available in 10 cities," Feb. 24, 2026. - 9to5Google, "Waymo: Where it's available, upcoming cities, and new features," April 22, 2026 update (confirmed 11-city total). - Carbon Credits, "Waymo hits 2,500 robotaxis in U.S." (fleet sizing). - Waymo blog, "Your Waymo ride, now arriving in Nashville," April 2026. - Waymo, "Scaling our fleet through U.S. manufacturing," May 2025. ### Announced for 2026 (8 U.S. cities) Washington, D.C.; Las Vegas; Detroit; San Diego; Denver; Minneapolis; New Orleans; Tampa. (Nashville was on this list as recently as Feb. 2026; it moved to the operating column on April 7, 2026.) Sources: - The Robot Report, "Waymo laying groundwork to bring robotaxis to 4 more cities." - TechCrunch, "Waymo enters 3 more cities: Minneapolis, New Orleans, and Tampa," Nov. 20, 2025. - CNBC, "Waymo says it will launch in more Texas and Florida cities in 2026," Nov. 18, 2025. (London is excluded; this map covers U.S. service.) ### Tested, not operating **New York City.** Waymo tested eight vehicles with safety drivers in Manhattan south of 112th Street and in Downtown Brooklyn beginning in 2024. State testing permits expired March 31, 2026. Gov. Kathy Hochul withdrew her February 2026 proposal that would have allowed limited commercial robotaxi operation outside New York City; NYC was explicitly excluded from that proposal. Mayor Zohran Mamdani has not committed to renewing local permits. No commercial pathway currently exists. Sources: - THE CITY, "Waymo's Robot Car Testing Ends in NYC After Permits Expire," Apr. 6, 2026. - Streetsblog NY, "With Waymo Testing Halted, We Have A Rare Chance To Get Ahead of the 'Driverless Revolution,'" Apr. 8, 2026. - CNBC, "New York Gov. Hochul drops robotaxi service proposal for outside NYC in blow to Waymo," Feb. 19, 2026. - NYC Mayor's Office, "Mayor Adams, DOT Announce Approval of First Application to Test Autonomous Vehicles in New York City With Trained Safety Specialist Behind Steering Wheel," August 2025. --- ## Fleet counting Waymo publicly reports a U.S. fleet of approximately 3,000 robotaxis (early 2026) and is on pace for one million paid rides per week by year-end. **Waymo does not voluntarily publish per-city vehicle counts.** Two kinds of per-city data exist: **Regulator-confirmed (California only).** California's Public Utilities Commission requires quarterly fleet and operations reports from autonomous-vehicle ride-share permit holders. The August 2025 CPUC filing showed Waymo with 1,429 total vehicles in California, of which 875 were associated with the San Francisco terminal. The remainder are split between Los Angeles County and ancillary terminals. CPUC reports redact some fields Waymo claims as confidential. Waymo separately confirmed >800 vehicles in commercial Bay Area operation in mid-2025 — its largest public Bay Area number to date. **Analyst estimates (non-California cities).** Outside California there is no equivalent regulator. Numbers reported in trade press for Phoenix (~500), Los Angeles (~700), Austin (~200), and Atlanta (~100) are extrapolations and analyst estimates, not Waymo-disclosed figures. They circulate widely but are not primary-source confirmed. The map labels these explicitly as "analyst estimate." **Newer markets (Miami, Dallas, Houston, San Antonio, Orlando).** No reliable public estimate exists. The map says "Not publicly broken out." **Nashville.** Waymo's own April 2026 announcement said "dozens of vehicles" without giving a specific number. The map quotes the language directly. **New York City.** Eight vehicles operated under DMV testing permits during 2024–25; those permits expired March 31, 2026, and no current operations exist. Bubble sizes on the map are tiered (small / medium / large / largest) and follow these numbers where available, qualitative judgment where not. Treat the bubbles as ordinal rather than as exact vehicle counts. ### A note on aggregator newsletters Earlier versions of this map cited The Driverless Digest (a Substack newsletter) for per-city fleet numbers. After review, those numbers turned out to be the newsletter's own extrapolations rather than primary-source disclosures, and at least one estimate (Atlanta) circulated in inverted form across the trade press. The current map uses primary regulatory data (CPUC) where it exists, Waymo's own statements, and otherwise labels figures as analyst estimates. The newsletter remains useful for finding primary sources but isn't itself cited as authoritative. --- ## State legal classification Underlying source for every state: National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL) autonomous-vehicle legislation tracker, supplemented by Baker Donelson's 50-state autonomous-vehicle survey and recent reporting where statutes have been amended or interpretations have shifted. **Permissive (driverless commercial allowed under enacted statute or active state permits):** AL, AZ, AR, CA, CO, DE, FL, GA, IN, IA, KY, LA, MI, MN, NE, NV, NH, NC, ND, OH, OK, PA, SC, TN, TX, UT, VA, WI. **No AV statute (ambiguous):** AK, CT, DC, HI, ID, IL, KS, ME, MD, MS, MO, MT, NM, OR, RI, SD, VT, WA, WV, WY. **Effectively bars driverless commercial:** - **NY** — state law requires drivers to keep a hand on the wheel at all times. NYC testing required licensed human operators; permits expired March 31, 2026. Gov. Hochul's commercial driverless rideshare proposal was withdrawn in February 2026 with NYC explicitly excluded. - **MA** — Massachusetts state guidance requires a human safety operator in the driver's seat at all times during AV operation. Sen. Markey has opened a federal investigation into AV companies' use of remote operators. Boston is separately debating an ordinance that would require an in-vehicle human operator and pause AV deployment pending a study. - **NJ** — no enabling AV statute. The New Jersey Advanced Autonomous Vehicle Task Force recommended that all on-road testing be conducted with a safety driver present. There is no state-sanctioned pathway for fully driverless commercial service. A few additional notes: - **Seattle** has a local rule requiring a human driver in any AV operating on city streets, even though Washington state has no AV statute (and is therefore classified ambiguous on the map). - **Boston's** proposed ordinance has not been enacted; if it passes, it would functionally make Massachusetts even more restrictive. - **Illinois** has been reclassified from permissive to ambiguous: the state has no comprehensive AV statute and bills remain under consideration. - **Florida** older sources said it required a human operator during testing; that's outdated. Waymo currently runs fully driverless service in Miami and Orlando. A handful of states sit on the boundary between these categories — interpretations differ between NCSL, industry trade groups, and academic surveys. Where reasonable people disagree, the map errs on the side of "ambiguous" rather than picking a side. If you're going to act on a specific state's status (legal, business, or editorial), verify directly with that state's DMV or transportation department. --- ## What this map does *not* show - **Service-area polygons.** Within an "operating" city, Waymo's actual service zone is a polygon that grows over time; this map shows a single point per city. - **Historical pilots.** Earlier internal testing (e.g., Detroit pre-2020) is not shown. - **International operations.** London (announced 2026) is excluded. - **Rider economics.** Wait times, pricing, and subjective ride quality are out of scope. --- ## Last updated May 6, 2026. If you're reading this more than a few months after that date, treat every status as suspect — this market moves fast.