Waymo opened its driverless robotaxi service to the public on the Las Vegas Strip on September 14, 2026, making Nevada the fifteenth U.S. market for the Alphabet-owned autonomous ride-hail unit — and its fourth new city in September alone.
Fifteenth City, Vegas Strip First
Public riders can now hail fully driverless Waymo trips through the Waymo One app in a service area that covers the Las Vegas Strip south of Highway 589 and stretches into Boulder Junction. The company said it will invite riders on a rolling basis, following the same playbook it has used in its 14 earlier markets. Coverage will initially skew toward tourism-heavy corridors — the Strip, resort casinos, the Convention Center and Harry Reid International Airport were positioned as target destinations in Waymo's local marketing.
Ojai Minivan Fleet
Vegas is being launched with "dozens" of Ojai minivans, the Zeekr-built purpose-designed vehicle Waymo has been rolling out as it retires its older Jaguar I-Pace fleet. Waymo now operates more than 4,000 vehicles across the U.S., of which roughly 300 are Ojais today. The company has signalled aggressive Ojai ramp-up plans as it targets one million paid weekly rides.
A Fourth Market In A Month
Las Vegas caps a torrid September for Waymo, which switched on paid service in Denver, San Diego and Tampa on September 1. The pace underlines Waymo's playbook advantage over rivals: while Zoox is still ramping its own Vegas Strip service and Tesla only unveiled its production Cybercab this month, Waymo now operates fully driverless in 15 metros with a service model that has repeatedly cleared regulator, insurer and rider adoption bars.
Nevada's Regulatory Path
Waymo secured Nevada Autonomous Vehicle Testers and Autonomous Vehicle Network Company permits earlier in 2026, and has been mapping and testing on Las Vegas streets since 2025. The commercial launch turns those permits into public-service revenue and gives Waymo an early foothold on the Strip's ride-hail market before Zoox scales beyond airport shuttles and Tesla's Cybercab enters commercial service. With Denver, San Diego, Tampa and now Vegas online, Waymo is on track to roughly double the number of U.S. cities where it takes paid trips inside a single quarter.
Reporting based on coverage from Bloomberg, TechCrunch, Fox 5 Vegas and Waymo's own launch materials.