Somewhere in Texas, about 360 new robotaxis hit the road in 21 days. That’s not a growth curve. That’s a statement.
Fleet data reviewed this week shows Waymo now operating roughly 4,000 robotaxis across 15 U.S. cities, averaging 500,000 paid rides per week. Two years ago, in September 2024, the company ran commercial service in exactly three cities: Phoenix, Los Angeles, and San Francisco. The expansion since has been relentless, and the newest numbers show where the momentum is concentrated.
Texas. Of Waymo’s roughly 4,000 vehicles, about 80 percent sit in just two states, California and Texas. And Texas is where the action is right now: state registrations show Waymo’s fleet there reached 1,102 autonomous vehicles as of September 24, up from a little over 700 at the end of August. That’s a 49 percent jump in three weeks.
The Ojai factor
The surge has a name: Ojai. It’s Waymo’s new minivan, a modified Zeekr RT built on Geely’s SEA-M platform, finished with Waymo’s sixth-generation self-driving system at the company’s Arizona facility. The base vehicles ship from China without Chinese connected-car tech, then get outfitted in Mesa.
The Ojai now makes up about a third of the Texas fleet, roughly 367 vans in a single state. Three weeks ago, the entire country had fewer Ojais carrying riders than Texas does today. Research firm MoffettNathanson, which tracks Ojai imports through shipping records, says Waymo is on track to bring 5,100 of the vehicles into the United States by year-end, with Texas, Florida, and newer markets like Las Vegas as likely destinations.
The Ojai is designed to do one thing above all: drive down the cost per ride. It runs Waymo’s latest self-driving system, carries an upgraded rider interface, and even integrates Google’s Gemini AI as an in-car assistant. Cheaper vehicle, better experience, faster path to profitability. That’s the thesis.
There’s a catch, and it’s a big one. U.S. import tariffs on Chinese-built vehicles are eating into exactly the cost savings the Ojai was meant to deliver. Waymo appears to be absorbing that cost, prioritizing fleet scale over near-term margin. It’s a calculated bet: get the vehicles deployed, build the ridership habit, sort out the unit economics at volume.
The map keeps growing
The Texas surge is only part of the story. Waymo began admitting public riders in Denver, San Diego, and Tampa on September 1, each launch starting with dozens of vehicles and expanding gradually. Las Vegas followed on September 14 with a similar cautious ramp. The company also announced plans for Tokyo, targeting a 2027 commercial launch in partnership with taxi-app GO and taxi company Nihon Kotsu.
Meanwhile the competitive field is tightening. Tesla is charging for rides in driverless Model Y vehicles across Austin, Dallas, Houston, Miami, Orlando, and Tampa, and began limited public rides in its purpose-built Cybercab, a two-seater with no steering wheel or pedals, in Austin earlier this month. Amazon’s Zoox started paid public rides in Las Vegas in August and is mapping Houston and San Diego for future launches.
Waymo’s lead is still substantial: 500,000 paid rides a week is a number nobody else in the business can touch. But the gap is no longer about whether robotaxis work. It’s about who can scale them fastest and cheapest.
The concentration question
Here’s the part of the story that deserves a closer look. For all the talk of 15 cities, roughly 80 percent of Waymo’s fleet sits in California and Texas. The other 800 or so vehicles are spread across Arizona, Florida, and the rest of the map. Most are the familiar white Jaguar I-Pace electric SUVs; the Ojais are the growing minority.
That concentration is a strategy, not an accident. California offers Waymo’s home turf, deep engineering presence, and early-adopter riders. Texas offers scale-friendly regulation, huge metro areas, and the Uber partnership that launched Austin service in March 2025 before spreading to Dallas, Houston, and San Antonio.
But concentration carries risk. A regulatory shift or a local backlash in either state would hit a disproportionate share of the business. And the newer markets, Denver, San Diego, Tampa, Las Vegas, are still thin. Scaling each of them from dozens of cars to hundreds will take months of careful work: mapping, safety validation, rider acquisition, local relationships.
What it means
For travelers in Waymo cities, the practical change is availability. More cars means shorter wait times and wider service areas. If you’re in Austin, Dallas, Houston, or San Antonio, the odds that a driverless ride is actually an option for your trip keep climbing.
For cities, the Texas example is becoming the template everyone studies. Fleet-friendly rules plus big populations plus willing partners equals rapid deployment. Cities that want robotaxi service are learning what it takes to attract it.
For investors, the numbers tell a clean story with one messy footnote. The clean story: 15 cities, 4,000 vehicles, half a million rides a week, and a purpose-built vehicle ramping fast. The footnote: tariffs are raising the cost of the very vehicle meant to make the economics work. Waymo is betting that scale cures all. The next few quarters will test that bet in public.
The robotaxi race has entered its industrial phase. The question is no longer who has the best demo. It’s who can put the most cars on the road at the lowest cost per mile. This week, the answer in Texas was Waymo, by about 360 cars.
For more on the autonomous mobility race, see our Breaking News coverage, including how driverless trucks are scaling toward 30,000 vehicles by 2030 and the first cab-less autonomous truck now delivering groceries in Germany.
