Waymo now runs paid robotaxi service in 15 U.S. cities and averages 500,000 paid rides per week, up from three cities in September 2024, but roughly 80% of its fleet is concentrated in California and Texas. The Alphabet-owned company has about 4,000 robotaxis, leaving some 800 vehicles spread across other states including Arizona and Florida, which the company has identified as a growing market. Waymo is headquartered in Silicon Valley, where much of its early testing took place and where a segment of residents tend to adopt new technology early.
Texas has become the center of the company's recent expansion. Waymo's Texas fleet grew 49% in three weeks, reaching 1,102 registered autonomous vehicles as of September 24, according to state vehicle registrations and the Texas Autonomous Vehicle Fleet Tracker. The company entered commercial service in Austin in March 2025 through a partnership with Uber, allowing riders to hail its vehicles through the Uber app, and has since expanded in Dallas, Houston, and San Antonio. The Texas fleet had grown slowly from about 600 vehicles in June to more than 700 by the end of August before the September surge.
The increase was driven by the Ojai, a modified Zeekr RT minivan built by China's Geely Holding Group, which also owns Volvo. Ojai vehicles now make up about a third of Waymo's Texas fleet. The minivan uses Zeekr's SEA-M platform, a shared vehicle platform designed for uses such as robotaxis and delivery vans, and runs Waymo's sixth-generation self-driving system. Its interior is built for heavy use and includes an upgraded rider interface and Google's Gemini AI as an in-car assistant.
The base Zeekr vehicles arrive in the U.S. without Chinese connected-car technology and are sent to Waymo's Arizona factory for installation of the self-driving system. Waymo is betting the Ojai will lower costs and eventually help it reach profitability, though steep U.S. import tariffs on vehicles built in China are raising the cost of each one. Waymo appears willing to absorb that cost: the New York research firm MoffettNathanson, tracking Ojai imports through shipping records, said in its September report that Waymo is on track to bring 5,100 of the vehicles into the U.S. by the end of the year.
Most of Waymo's remaining vehicles are white Jaguar I-Pace electric SUVs, but the Ojai share is growing. Texas is expected to receive more of the minivans, and Florida, where Waymo operates in three cities, and newer markets such as Las Vegas will likely see an influx as well.
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