Waymo leads robotaxi market with 15 million driverless rides in 2025

Currently, in several U.S. cities, you can open an app, and a self-driving car will stop and take you where you want to go. No small talk. No wrong turns. No tipping. No perfume masks cigarette odors.

A driverless Waymo ride in San Francisco costs an average of $8.17. A human Uber in the same city? $17.25. The robotaxis price war is here.

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I live in Phoenix most of the time and see Waymos everywhere. At the grocery store. On the highway. Sitting at red lights with no one behind the wheel, just vibing. I still haven’t had one. But I’m giving myself two weeks.

If I survive, I’ll share the ride. I’m mostly joking.

A Waymo crosses Congress Avenue at 8th Street in front of the Capitol as rain arrives in the Austin area Friday, Jan. 23, 2025, ahead of temperature drops and freezing rain forecast over the weekend. (Sara Diggins/The Austin American Statesman via Getty Images)

Who is on the road?

Waymo (owned by Google parent company Alphabet) is the undisputed leader. It enabled 15 million driverless journeys in 2025, and today it’s around 400,000 per week. Valued at $126 billion. Available in Phoenix, San Francisco Bay Area, Los Angeles, Austin, Atlanta and Miami. Coming in 2026: Dallas, Denver, DC, London, Tokyo and more.

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Tesla launched in Austin last June but is far behind. About 31 cars. One tester made 42 trips, and each always had a safety monitor on board. So supervised.

Zoox (owned by Amazon) is the wild card. Their module has no steering wheel and rolls in both directions. Rides are free in Vegas and San Francisco pending billing approval.

A Cruise vehicle in San Francisco, California, U.S., Wednesday, Feb. 2, 2022. Cruise LLC, the self-driving car startup majority-owned by General Motors Co., said it is offering free rides to non-employees in San Francisco for the first time, a move that triggers an additional $1.35 billion from investor SoftBank Vision Fund. Photographer: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg via Getty Images

How do these things “see”?

Waymo uses cameras, lidar (laser radar that builds a 3D map around the car), and traditional radar. It works in complete darkness and heavy rain. Tesla only uses cameras. Eight of them, no lidar. Cheaper, that’s how they offer trips at $1.99 per kilometer.

Now, are they safe?

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Tesla has reported seven accidents to regulators since its launch. Waymo claims that there are 80% fewer injury accidents than human drivers. But NHTSA has recorded 1,429 Waymo incidents since 2021, 117 injuries and two deaths. Three software recalls, including one last December for passing stopped school buses.

A friend of mine took a Waymo and it dropped her off a mile from where she was going. No way to change it. No humans to report. Just a robot car that said, “You have arrived.”

She hadn’t done it. So yes. I’m curious. But I am also cautious.

A Tesla Inc. robotaxi on Oltorf Street in Austin, Texas, Sunday, June 22, 2025. The Sunday launch of Tesla Inc.’s driverless taxi service is expected to start small, with a handful of vehicles in limited areas of the city. (Tim Goessman/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

This is where it gets spicy

When a robo-taxi gets confused, a human in a remote center sees through the car’s cameras and plots a path for it. During a Senate hearing on Wednesday, February 4, Waymo admitted that some of these assistants were in the Philippines. The senators were not amused. Me neither.

Your car stays parked 95% of the time. Robotaxis operate more than 15 hours a day. When a driverless ride costs less than gas and insurance, owning a car feels like a gym membership you never use.

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The future of driving is that no one drives. Taking us in a whole new direction.

Do you know anyone who still thinks self-driving cars are science fiction? Pass this on. They’re going for a ride.

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