Waymo on Sept. 1, 2026, began welcoming its first public riders in Denver, San Diego, and Tampa, saying that marks 14 cities where it provides fully autonomous trips. The three-city open matters because Alphabet's robotaxi unit is putting paid, driverless cars into multiple new U.S. metros on the same day, while a sixth-generation Ojai fleet becomes the vehicle many riders will meet on the street.
This is not an overnight open-to-all flip. Waymo says tens of thousands of people in each city have already signed up and that it will steadily offer more riders access as it works toward opening the service to everyone. Riders hail through the Waymo app. TechCrunch reports that in Denver and San Diego the Zeekr-made Ojai minivan, running Waymo's sixth-generation Driver, will be the only autonomous vehicle available to riders for now, with that Ojai fleet at about 300 against a combined Jaguar I-Pace and Ojai fleet of more than 4,000.
"Launching public rides in San Diego, Tampa, and in my home state of Colorado brings our newest vehicle platform and next-generation driver to more riders who are ready to experience the future of mobility," Waymo chief marketing officer Suzanne Philion said. CNBC, citing a company spokesperson, reported dozens of robotaxis in each of the three cities initially, with plans for hundreds over time, and said Denver marks Waymo's first commercial operations in Colorado.
Independent coverage put the launch in a hotter competitive frame. TechCrunch noted Tesla already charges for driverless Model Y rides in Tampa and other cities and is banking on Cybercab. CNBC said Amazon's Zoox planned to begin supervised Highlander testing in Houston and San Diego the same week. Waymo's blog repeats a safety marketing claim that the Waymo Driver is involved in 94% fewer serious injury or worse crashes compared with human drivers over comparable time; that figure is company safety marketing, not a regulator ruling on this three-city open.
What remains open is how fast rolling invites become open access, whether Ojai production can lift the about-300 sixth-generation vans behind Denver and San Diego, and how Tampa's overlap with Tesla's paid robotaxi service looks once both fleets are denser. Company city counts, vehicle-mix claims, and safety marketing should be weighed alongside independent fleet and competitive reporting until utilization and ride-volume data land for these three metros.