Waymo and Zoox expand their US robotaxi presence
Zoox is still using converted series-production SUVs for parts of its test fleet.
Zoox
The competition for autonomous ride-hailing is gaining speed in the US. Waymo is opening its robotaxi services in Denver, San Diego and Tampa to initial passengers, while Zoox is expanding its test areas. The United States remains a key pace-setter in the robotaxi market.
Competition in the US robotaxi market is intensifying. Waymo and Zoox have both announced expansions into additional cities, underlining how quickly autonomous ride-hailing is moving from controlled pilots towards broader urban deployment.
Both companies are backed by major US technology groups: Waymo is part of Alphabet, while Zoox belongs to Amazon. Their latest moves show two different approaches to the same goal. Waymo is scaling a service that already carries paying passengers in multiple US cities. Zoox is broadening its test footprint while preparing its purpose-built vehicle for commercial operation.
Why Waymo is extending its lead
Waymo has announced that it is now carrying initial passengers in Denver, San Diego and Tampa. According to the company, its service is now available in 14 US cities. Tens of thousands of people have already registered interest in rides, and Waymo plans to increase the number of users gradually before opening the service more widely to the public.
“From coast to coast, we’re focused on making everyday transportation safer, easier and more accessible,” said Suzanne Philion, Chief Marketing Officer at Waymo.
With the expansion, Waymo is strengthening its lead in the robotaxi market. The company is currently regarded as the most advanced operator of commercial Level 4 robotaxis. It says it now completes more than 500,000 paid rides per week in the US, while Alphabet is continuing to invest heavily in fleet growth and supporting infrastructure.
Waymo also recently announced plans to enter the German market. In Munich, initial mapping and test drives are expected to begin in the coming weeks, with a public robotaxi service planned for late 2027.
The latest US expansion is based on Waymo’s newest vehicle platform and the sixth generation of its “Waymo Driver” system. According to the company, the system has a 94 per cent lower rate of serious crashes than human drivers.
Where Zoox is expanding testing
Zoox is also increasing its presence. The company is starting test activities in Houston and San Diego, bringing its footprint to twelve US regions. Initially, converted test vehicles will be used to map roads and collect data. Autonomous test drives are then expected to follow before Zoox deploys its own driverless robotaxi, which has been designed without a steering wheel or pedals.
The two cities offer different test conditions. Houston is considered demanding because of its complex road networks, high temperatures, heavy rain and flooding. San Diego provides experience with dense coastal development, fog and heavy freeway traffic. The data collected there is intended to support future autonomous operation on freeways.
Zoox says safety and operational readiness determine the pace of its expansion. That emphasis is important because the company is entering a decisive phase. In early August, Zoox became the first robotaxi company to receive a commercial exemption from the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration for its purpose-built robotaxi vehicle.
The exemption allows the Amazon subsidiary to charge fares and prepare the transition from pilot operation to commercial service. The first paid rides are expected to start in Las Vegas, where more than 500,000 people have already used the previous free service.
What separates the two strategies
Waymo and Zoox are both expanding, but they are not following the same route. Waymo’s advantage lies in operating experience at commercial scale. It already has live ride-hailing services, a growing user base and large volumes of real-world data from paid passenger trips.
Zoox, by contrast, is pursuing a more vertically integrated model. Its vehicle was developed specifically for autonomous urban mobility and does not follow the layout of a conventional passenger car. That creates a different technical and regulatory challenge, but also gives Zoox more control over vehicle concept, customer experience and fleet operation.
The contrast matters for the wider industry. The robotaxi market is no longer defined only by whether an autonomous system can drive safely in a mapped area. The key questions now concern fleet scale, regulatory approval, service reliability, cost per ride and whether operators can build a repeatable model across very different cities.
Why the US remains the pace-setter
The latest announcements highlight the momentum of the US market. While Europe is still shaped mainly by pilot projects and regulatory preparation, the scaling of autonomous ride-hailing is currently taking place above all in the US and China.
Waymo is setting the operational benchmark by expanding from city to city and gaining real service experience. Zoox is moving towards commercial deployment with a dedicated vehicle and a tightly integrated operating model. Together, the two companies illustrate how different the paths to robotaxi scale can be.
Regulation will remain one of the decisive factors. As services move beyond pilots, companies will need to prove safety not only through test mileage, but through approval processes, operational monitoring, software updates and transparent incident handling. In other words, approval and safety evidence are becoming just as important as sensor performance and driving software.
How Tesla could change the contest
Tesla is also trying to enter the robotaxi market as another serious contender. Elon Musk’s company is expected to present its Cybercab to the public this week, positioning it as Tesla’s dedicated robotaxi concept.
However, several central questions remain open. Tesla still has to demonstrate that its camera-based approach without radar and lidar sensors can operate reliably at scale. Production targets, regulatory approvals and Musk’s announced price target of below $30,000 for the Cybercab are also still regarded as ambitious within the industry.
That makes the US robotaxi race more complex. Waymo is already operating at scale, Zoox is preparing the step from testing to paid rides, and Tesla wants to bring a radically different technology and cost logic into the market. The next phase will show which model can move from technical promise to durable operation.
For the automotive industry, the broader signal is clear: robotaxi services are becoming a test case for autonomous mobility at commercial scale. The winners will not only need advanced driving systems. They will also need vehicles, platforms, local operations, safety cases and customer access models that can be repeated from city to city.
