Waymo Plans to Add 2,000 More Robotaxis by 2026

Zoox issues another recall, the ultimate test of whether something is truly autonomous, and my longest Waymo ride yet!

TDD Podcast

In case you missed it, we launched the TDD podcast this week! Check out our first interview with Lyft’s EVP of Driver Experience, Jeremy Bird (available on all major podcast platforms). We discussed Lyft’s AV strategy, their partnership with May Mobility, why they aren’t partnered with Waymo yet and how to best manage their fleet of human drivers as they scale AVs.

Top Stories of the Week

Waymo says it will add 2,000 more robotaxis into 2026 (link). The company just received their final batch of Jaguar I-Pace SUVs, which they'll outfit with sensors and self-driving tech at their Arizona factory before adding them to the robotaxi fleet. One cool anecdote was that the Waymo cars drive out of the factory autonomously and immediately go to pick up riders in the Phoenix service area.

Waymo also revealed that their fleet size is currently at 1,500 vehicles across SF, LA, Phoenix and Austin. Here’s my current best guess as to the fleet size by city¹ :

With the size of the total fleet, we can use the 250,000 trips per week figure to calculate a fleet-wide utilization rate of 167 trips/vehicle (24/day).

Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi made big news earlier in the week when he announced that Waymo Robotaxis in Austin Are Busier Than 99% of Human Drivers (link). I wrote:

Based on this latest announcement from Uber’s CEO and the available data, my best guess is that each Waymo is doing around 170-210 trips per week, or 24-30 trips per day. We know from CPUC data that Waymo was already doing 24 trips per day in California at the end of December 2024, so 24-30 trips per day in Austin seems reasonable at this stage.

Well now that we know the entire Waymo fleet is doing 24 trips per day, I’m not so sure the Austin stat is that impressive anymore. The Waymo Driver can work 22 hours a day vs. a human driver that has to sleep, rest and eat. So 24 trips per day should be table stakes at this point, what really matters going forward is the revenue per trip. If Waymo is waiting around for 20 minutes, driving 20 minutes to get their passenger, and then doing a 20 minute trip, that’s not nearly as impressive as 40-50 minutes of paid driving per hour.

Cool Rides

My longest Waymo ride yet—80 minutes in LA rush hour traffic last week (link). Cost $74.21 for the 10 mile trip. The ride took longer than expected, but probably would’ve been 60–65 minutes with a human driver. Waymo drove confidently, though some human-to-human gestures were definitely missed. It was nice to have a private ride though as we brought snacks and drinks. Overall, a good experience, and I would do it again, but I still wish there was a “haul ass” mode.

Check out this Waymo navigating like a pro! Cutting through a gas station to find its way—100% what a human driver would do. Impressive (link). It does seem like Waymo is getting more aggressive (in a good way).

Watch Waymo save this bicyclist’s bacon (link).

AV/Humans behaving badly

The other day I got stuck behind two Waymo cars within a two block stretch on Beverly Dr. in LA. They were both pulled over right in the middle of the road waiting for a passenger. Should Waymos be allowed to double park and block traffic like this? I was pissed.. (link).

Imagine the media response if the logo on the car was different (link).

Other Stuff

U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USTPO) shuts down Tesla’s attempt to trademark ‘Robotaxi’ term (link).

Theo Von: “I was in a Waymo and it asked me if I wanted to gamble. I think it was sponsored by DraftKings or something. It was like ‘I’ll bet you $40 you’ll never get what you’re going.” LMAO 😂 (link).

POV: No one behind the wheel of a self-driving truck. Welcome to the future of freight! $AUR (link).

Tesla's robotaxi will compete with Waymo in Austin. Here's how the two companies compare (link, no paywall).

Waymo's Insane 100+ Fleet Depot in San Francisco 🤯 (link). Love the music too!

The ultimate test of whether something is truly autonomous comes down to “Roy’s Razor” (link). Can you safely fall asleep while it’s driving? If the answer is yes, it’s autonomous. I’m with Alex on this one!

What happens when a Waymo is at fault in a crash? (link).

Amazon’s Zoox robotaxi unit issues software recall after recent Las Vegas crash (link). The recall stems from a flaw in the vehicle’s automated driving system that could lead it to misjudge another car’s movement—raising “the risk of a crash,” according to a report filed with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration on May 1. Remember they agreed to a previous recall in March over a braking issue.

Here is what our ideal personal Waymo will look like: Toyota Supra, under-lighting, stanced, roll cage, and chopped exhaust (link).

Richard Branson: For the Virgin Hotels London-Shoreditch opening party, I rolled up in style, chauffeured by none other than a Wayve self-driving car. I don’t think I’ve said wow this much since being in space (link).

Uber turns to Chinese companies to snap up robotaxi market share in Europe, Middle East (link).

Group Product Manager, Autonomous Vehicle Supply Management at Uber (link). Seems like a cool job for people looking to get into autonomy.

What else we're reading

Expedite

by

Kristen Hawley

: DoorDash delivery bots land in LA (link).

Automated Vehicle Safety by Phil Koopman

: FSD (remote supervised) Tesla Robotaxi (link).

TDD in the Media

I went on

Rich DeMuro

’s

Rich on Tech

radio show over the weekend—jump in at the 1:33:27 mark (link). I talked about rideshare and the rise of autonomous vehicles, and shared what drivers are really thinking about all this. I also gave a rundown of the Waymo rider experience and how it stacks up against Tesla’s FSD.

Until next week.

-Harry

1. I used CPUC data from CA and extrapolated fleet growth based off the weekly increase in trips, and also stated fleet sizes by Waymo in SF (link, no paywall) and Uber in Austin (link).