Waymo officially opened its Dallas robotaxi service to the general public on August 4, 2026, ending an interest-list waitlist that had gated access since the company's February commercial launch. Anyone in the city can now download the Waymo app and hail a fully autonomous ride without an invitation, the Alphabet subsidiary said in a blog post that day.
From Interest List To Open Access
Since February, roughly 150,000 Dallasites signed up through the phased rollout to sample what Waymo calls the "safety, reliability, and magic" of its Waymo Driver stack. The company said residents used the service to run errands, commute and travel to social outings, and it now wants to extend the same convenience to tourists and business visitors flowing into the metroplex.
Airport And Freeway Testing Next
Public rides do not yet include Dallas Love Field or the region's freeways, two segments Waymo has flagged as top priorities. The company is running fully autonomous tests at Love Field terminals and expects to begin driverless freeway trials "soon," describing that milestone as the final step before opening interstate routes to paying riders.
Accessibility Framing And Community Partners
Waymo leaned into an accessibility narrative for the launch, quoting Epilepsy Foundation Texas CEO Chris Justl, who called driverless rides "a transformational step forward" for people with medical conditions that limit driving. The company has consistently paired new-city openings with disability-advocacy partnerships as it argues autonomous vehicles expand mobility for underserved riders.
Dallas Joins A Fast-Widening Footprint
Dallas becomes the latest metro to move from waitlist to public service in a year of aggressive Waymo expansion. The company recently began fully autonomous rides in San Diego, Las Vegas, Tampa and Denver, and it is targeting more than one million paid trips per week by the end of 2026. Its Phoenix freeway program restarted this summer after a May recall, and the operator is also pushing on delivery use cases with DoorDash. With Amazon-owned Zoox now serving paid Las Vegas rides, the U.S. robotaxi race is entering a period of open-market competition in multiple cities.
Reporting based on coverage from Waymo, TechCrunch, FOX 4 Dallas-Fort Worth and Audacy KRLD.