Waymo opens robotaxi service in Las Vegas
Las Vegas will be Waymo's 15th commercial robotaxi market.
Alphabet's Waymo has begun offering its robotaxi service to the public in Las Vegas after receiving final approval from Nevada transportation regulators. The company plans to invite riders on a rolling basis, following its previously used robotaxi launch strategy in 14 other cities. Waymo's robotaxi service in Las Vegas will initially consist of "dozens" of its new Ojai minivan robotaxis, operating in an area encompassing the Strip south of Highway 589 and extending to Boulder Junction.
The company's fleet and service area are expected to expand over time. Currently, public members must request an invitation to access the service, which typically becomes available to everyone within a month or two of the official launch. In recent weeks, Waymo has expanded its robotaxi service to Denver, San Diego, and Tampa. This move comes as Waymo, Tesla, Zoox, and other competitors are increasing their presence in the United States and Europe.
Las Vegas, where both Tesla, Zoox, and Motional are planning to launch commercial robotaxi services, marks Waymo's 15th market. The company already operates in Austin, Dallas, Houston, Los Angeles, Miami, Nashville, Phoenix, and the San Francisco Bay Area. Waymo paused service in San Antonio earlier this year.
The Nevada Transportation Authority had granted Waymo permission to operate commercial robotaxi services in Clark County, which includes Las Vegas. Tesla and Uber also received similar authorizations from the agency, allowing them to deploy up to 5,000 and 1,000 robotaxis respectively, through partnerships with Hyundai subsidiary Motional and Zoox.
Together, these permits would enable up to 8,000 robotaxis across the county in the next year. However, it is unlikely that all three companies will reach these figures. As of now, Waymo possesses a fleet of over 4,000 robotaxis spread across more than a dozen cities. Tesla's Cybercab chief engineer, Eric Early, expressed to state regulators during an August meeting that the company does not anticipate achieving an "extremely happy and satisfied" deployment of over 2,500 robotaxis in the following year.
Even without reaching these numbers, the city could potentially face a significant saturation of robotaxis within the next year.
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