Waymo

Waymo is the autonomous driving subsidiary of Alphabet (Google's parent company), widely regarded as the leader in autonomous vehicle technology. Originally started as Google's self-driving car project in 2009, Waymo was spun out as a separate company in 2016 and has accumulated more autonomous driving miles than any other company.

Waymo One, the company's commercial robotaxi service, operates fully driverless vehicles across eleven US metros: Phoenix (since 2020), the San Francisco Bay Area, Los Angeles, Austin, Atlanta, Dallas, Houston, San Antonio, Miami, Orlando and Nashville. A further twenty cities are announced but not yet carrying public riders, among them Boston, Chicago, Denver, Las Vegas, New York, Philadelphia, Seattle and Washington, plus London and Tokyo — the company's first markets outside the United States. The vehicles use a sensor suite including lidar, cameras, and radar, processed by Waymo's AI Driver — a sophisticated AI system that handles perception, prediction, and planning in real-time urban driving environments. Waymo has completed millions of fully autonomous rides.

The 2026 expansion has been the steepest in the company's history, and Dallas shows the playbook: a February commercial launch limited to an interest list, nearly 150,000 riders served that way, then the waitlist removed in August 2026 so anyone with the app can hail a car. Fully autonomous testing is running at Love Field Airport, with freeway testing the last step before highway routes open to public riders. The vehicles use a sensor suite including lidar, cameras, and radar, processed by Waymo's AI Driver — a sophisticated AI system that handles perception, prediction, and planning in real-time urban driving environments. Waymo has completed millions of fully autonomous rides.

Waymo represents the most advanced deployment of autonomous driving AI in the world. The company's decade-plus of development and real-world data collection gives it a significant lead over competitors, though the path to profitability at scale remains a challenge. Alphabet's willingness to fund Waymo through years of development reflects the enormous potential of autonomous transportation — and the company's technology continues to improve as its fleet grows and accumulates more driving data.