Waymo and Zoox Expand Operations: A New Chapter in the Autonomous Vehicle Race
The autonomous vehicle race is accelerating at full speed. On Tuesday, September 1, both Alphabet’s Waymo and Amazon’s Zoox announced significant expansions of their driverless ride-hailing operations into new U.S. cities, intensifying competition in a market projected to reach $19 billion by 2030 and $48 billion by 2035, according to Goldman Sachs Research.
Waymo, the current market leader, announced it is now offering fully commercial driverless rides in San Diego, Tampa (Florida), and Denver — the first time the company has had commercial operations in Colorado. The expansion brings Waymo’s network to 14 U.S. cities with over 4,000 vehicles and more than 500,000 robotaxi rides per week. The company’s newer “Ojai” vehicles, built on a Zeekr minivan-style chassis, feature automatic sliding doors, three large in-car screens, and an entertainment system with Google Gemini integration. Waymo is targeting the ambitious milestone of 1 million weekly rides before the end of 2026.
On the other hand, Zoox revealed plans to begin testing its distinctive purpose-built vehicles in Houston and San Diego, bringing its U.S. presence to 12 markets. Currently, Zoox’s only paid service operates in Las Vegas. The announcements come days ahead of a highly anticipated Tesla event on September 3, where Elon Musk’s company is expected to share fresh details about its driverless Cybercab and Robotaxi ride-hailing service.
Source: CNBC – Waymo and Zoox Expand Into More U.S. Markets