Waymo, Alphabet's autonomous ride-hail unit, has opened its fully driverless Dallas robotaxi service to the general public after graduating roughly 150,000 riders from its interest list since the city launched in February. Anyone in the operating area can now hail a Waymo through the app, joining the company's other unrestricted markets in Phoenix, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Austin, Atlanta and Miami.
How Dallas Fits The Expansion Playbook
Dallas was one of four metros — alongside Houston, San Antonio and Orlando — that Waymo announced in February 2026 as its next wave of launches, pushing the total number of cities where public rides are available to 10. The company has since layered in Waymo Premier, an elevated cabin experience tier introduced in June, and continues to guide toward more than one million paid rides per week by year-end.
Competitive Backdrop
The Dallas milestone lands just days after Amazon-owned Zoox secured the first NHTSA commercial exemption for a purpose-built robotaxi and prepared for paid rides in Las Vegas, and as Tesla continues to test its own robotaxi service in Austin. Waymo remains the only U.S. operator with unrestricted commercial rides at scale across multiple metros, a lead reinforced by its steady rollout since Zoox's Hayward production ramp.
What's Next
Waymo's 2026 target list still includes Denver, Detroit, Las Vegas, Nashville, San Diego and Washington, D.C., plus London for its first international market. Dallas becoming an unrestricted market shifts the story from onboarding pilot riders to defending an incumbent robotaxi footprint against Zoox, Tesla and a growing pack of Chinese entrants.
Reporting based on coverage from Waymo, CleanTechnica and InsideEVs.