Overview
- Waymo activated fully driverless operations in Las Vegas on Wednesday with vehicles running without a human at the wheel and has started employee-only driverless testing in Denver, San Diego and Tampa.
- California regulators asked detailed questions about emergency response and unaccompanied minors and agreed with Waymo to extend their review to September 25, 2026, a pause that currently prevents Waymo from charging fares for Ojai rides in the state.
- The Ojai is Waymo’s first purpose-built robotaxi, made by Zeekr as a vehicle shell with Waymo installing the driving systems in the U.S., and the company is also testing retrofitted IONIQ 5s as part of its fleet expansion.
- Waymo operates roughly 3,500–4,000 robotaxis, says it has given more than 20 million autonomous rides, and raised about $16 billion in February to fund a push to reach 1 million paid weekly trips by the end of 2026.
- Recent operational problems — including cars driving into flooded streets, vehicles stuck until batteries drained, and a robotaxi driving through fireworks — have heightened public and regulator scrutiny and could slow public rollouts and shape new reporting or safety rules.