Waymo expands to 10 cities amid NHTSA safety scrutiny

Waymo expands to 10 cities: adds Dallas, Houston, San Antonio, Orlando

Waymo said it is welcoming the first public riders into its fully autonomous ride-hailing service in four additional U.S. cities, Dallas, Houston, San Antonio, and Orlando, according to Waymo. The company framed the step as part of its accelerated growth strategy.

The additions bring the network to 10 operating cities, as reported by Barron’s. The milestone deepens Alphabet’s push to commercialize driverless mobility beyond its early markets.

Why it matters: safety data, transparency, and regulatory scrutiny

Independent, peer-reviewed analyses of Waymo’s rider-only operations indicate meaningfully lower crash risk than human driving, based on studies on arXiv. One report covering roughly 56.7 million rider-only miles found statistically significant reductions in categories such as any-injury-reported, airbag-deployment, and suspected serious-injury crashes. Another analysis reported roughly an 80% lower rate of reported injury or damage crashes over 7.14 million rider-only miles; while study scopes differ, the figures indicate a first-mover safety advantage for mature driverless deployments.

Transparency and system limits remain under scrutiny. Following a Senate inquiry into overseas support staff, Waymo clarified that remote assistance agents advise the vehicle but do not take control, as reported by The Verge.

Legal advocates are also pressing for tighter federal oversight amid evolving reporting rules for partial automation. Witherite Law Group flagged concerns including a report of a robotaxi failing to stop for a school bus’s flashing arm and said the matter prompted a preliminary review by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).

Industry leaders have argued that public confidence depends on accessible, verifiable safety data. “Companies developing autonomous vehicles need to do more to prove their tech is safe,” said Tekedra Mawakana, co-CEO of Waymo, in an October 2025 interview, as reported by TechCrunch.

Immediate impact: Tesla robotaxi rollout under pressure

Tesla’s robotaxi pilot has drawn comparisons as it remains supervised rather than fully driverless in key markets. In Austin, the company reported nine crashes over roughly 500,000 robotaxi miles from July through November 2025, about one every 55,000 miles and roughly three times worse than human benchmarks, as reported by Electrek.

The operational contrast, combined with independent safety findings in rider-only fleets, increases pressure on Tesla to demonstrate improved incident rates and fuller disclosures as programs scale. Any additional regulatory actions or data-release requirements could further shape competitive timelines.

At the time of this writing, Tesla shares traded around $403.93, up about 1.03% intraday, based on data from Yahoo Finance. This market context does not imply any view on fundamentals or future performance.

How to ride a Waymo robotaxi in new cities

Public riders are now being onboarded in Dallas, Houston, San Antonio, and Orlando as service goes live. The deployments are fully autonomous, with rider-only operation in the service areas brought online.