Waymo Co-CEO outlines path to 1 million weekly trips in 2026
By Ed Ludlow, Bloomberg
Waymo, Alphabet Inc.’s autonomous driving unit, will hit more than 1 million paid weekly robotaxi rides in the US by the end of this year, according to co-Chief Executive Officer Tekedra Mawakana.
“This is an inflection point,” Mawakana said Wednesday during a Bloomberg Television interview. “In 2025, we quadrupled the number of trips that we are providing.”
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The startup plans to expand testing and launch new commercial services across 20 cities this year within the US and internationally. In some cases, Waymo can go from mapping a city to the start of paid rides in just a matter of months. In other cases, progress will be much slower, especially when a city or state lacks rules on robotaxis.
Waymo began fully autonomous operations in Nashville earlier this week ahead of a planned commercial launch with Lyft Inc. later this year. It also expects to begin service later in 2026 in Washington, Detroit, Las Vegas, San Diego and Denver.
Earlier this month, Waymo raised $16 billion at a $126 billion valuation. The round was led by new investors Sequoia Capital, DST Global and Dragoneer Investment Group. Parent Alphabet’s contribution wasn’t disclosed, but totaled $13 billion, Bloomberg reported.
The backing reflects Waymo’s success in “demonstrating” the technology works, Mawakana said. “Consumers are adopting it, the safety case is being made, and it’s just a really exciting time to join the team.”
Mawakana said the company is trying to become more cost-effective while expanding its robotaxi fleet. Waymo is the top provider of paid autonomous vehicle services in the US, with a pack of well-funded others chasing the market. It offers fully driverless, fare-charging rides in about half a dozen US cities through its app and in partnership with Uber Technologies Inc. The company currently provides about 400,000 paid rides per week across the six cities.
Mawakana leads the business operations alongside co-CEO Dmitri Dolgov, who focuses largely on the company’s technology.
The safety of Waymo’s cars have been in the spotlight recently after a series of incidents. Last month, US regulators launched investigations after a Waymo vehicle struck a child near a school in Santa Monica, California, at low speed. In that case, Waymo said its safety systems detected the child and the vehicle responded by braking hard, lowering its speed from 17 miles per hour to about 6 miles per hour before the collision.
Mawakana said Waymo is cooperating with investigators in the Santa Monica incident. The company determined that a person driving a car “would not have been able to perform as our superhuman driver performed,” she said, referencing Waymo’s driverless system.
A week earlier, on Jan. 23, auto safety investigators said they were probing a series of episodes in which Waymo vehicles drove improperly near stopped school buses in Austin.
“We have already addressed this situation with a software release,” Mawakana said, adding that the patch didn’t equate to a total fix because each scenario involving a bus is different.
Waymo’s fleet has largely been comprised of battery-electric Jaguar I-Pace vehicles, now in their fifth generation, which the startup adds sensors and other technology to in the US. The robotaxi firm also has deals with Zeekr, an arm of China’s Geely Automobile Holdings, and plans to launch a four-seat minivan robotaxi, which is in testing. Waymo will also expand its fleet with Hyundai Motor Co. electric vehicles.
Waymo received a permit to test its vehicles with a human operator in New York City, but no rules exist for fully autonomous service. Outside of the city, New York state may provide a nearer-term opportunity.
“There is an interest in doing this in the state, even outside of the city, and that gives us an opportunity to grow,” Mawakana said.
–With assistance from Natalie Lung.
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