Waymo Opens Robotaxi Rides to Everyone in San Antonio, San Diego and Tampa

Waymo said on October 14, 2026, that anyone in San Antonio, San Diego and Tampa can now download its app and hail a fully autonomous ride. Until then, riders in all three cities needed an invitation or an access code. In San Antonio, the opening includes trips to and from San Antonio International Airport. In its announcement, Waymo said it had welcomed hundreds of thousands of riders in the three cities since opening service there earlier in the year.

A fully autonomous ride has no human driver or safety operator in the car. The short post did not mention fares, fleet sizes or new service areas. Each city still has a set service area, the zone where the cars operate.

What changed in San Antonio, San Diego and Tampa

San Antonio. Waymo welcomed its first invited public riders there on February 24, 2026, along with Dallas, Houston and Orlando. Airport trips started on March 31, KSAT reported. In a statement, a Waymo spokesperson said it was the first fully autonomous ride service to provide airport trips in Texas. In March, KSAT put the service area at more than 60 square miles. Its October 14 report says the area runs from King William to Wurzbach Parkway. It includes downtown, the River Walk, Hemisfair Park and North Star Mall. Citing Waymo's release, KSAT said the service now includes the Ojai, Waymo's newest vehicle.

San Diego. Public rides began on September 1, with invitations sent out over time. At launch, Waymo served 50 square miles, from Logan Heights to Pacific Beach and from Sunset Cliffs to Normal Heights, NBC 7 reported. Until October 14, riders there needed an early access code, according to FOX 5/KUSI. The station listed the neighborhoods served now, including Mission Bay, Ocean Beach, Hillcrest, North Park, Balboa Park, Little Italy and the Gaslamp District. It said some people had seen driverless Waymo cars testing in Mission Valley and Clairemont. Waymo has not announced an expansion there, the station added. On September 14, Waymo said San Diego and Denver were among its first cities where most of the fleet is the Ojai.

Tampa. Tampa also opened to invited riders on September 1. Until October 14, riders there needed an activation code, WFLA reported. According to WFLA, Waymo said it serves nearly 50 square miles of the city, including Hyde Park, Westshore, Northwest Park and Temple Crest. Waymo is not alone in Tampa. TechCrunch reported on September 1 that Tesla charges for rides in its driverless Model Y cars there. It noted that Tesla's service is limited in some markets.

How Waymo opens a city to everyone

Waymo follows roughly the same steps in nearly every new market, according to TechCrunch. It maps and tests the city, then removes the human safety operator. Next it lets employees, reporters and invited guests ride. Opening to everyone comes last.

In February, Waymo said it planned to open Dallas, Houston, San Antonio and Orlando to everyone later in 2026. Orlando got there first, together with Miami, on April 15. Waymo opened Nashville to everyone on June 25. Dallas followed on August 4 and Houston on August 20. San Antonio was the last of the four February cities to open fully.

In each case, Waymo first limited rides to people it invited from a waitlist. It said more than 100,000 people rode in Houston before that city opened to all.

San Antonio's flood pause

San Antonio's rollout was interrupted by flooding. In April, Waymo robotaxis struggled with flash floods in central Texas. An empty robotaxi was swept away in San Antonio, and Waymo paused service in the city, TechCrunch reported.

On May 12, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) announced a recall covering 3,791 Waymo vehicles. In its recall notice, NHTSA said the software could let a car slow and then drive into standing water on higher-speed roads. As an interim fix, Waymo added weather-related limits on where its cars drive and updated their maps. At the time, NHTSA said the final fix was still under development.

Service in San Antonio restarted in September, five months after the flood. Waymo told the San Antonio Express-News that software changes will help its cars better detect and avoid standing water, TechCrunch reported. Waymo has said it may still pause or adjust service during severe weather and flood warnings. Riders can check the status in the app, a spokesperson told TechCrunch in August.

Which Waymo cities still need an invitation?

Waymo's city page listed 15 places where it serves riders on October 15, 2026. In two of them, Atlanta and Austin, people book rides through the Uber app.

The October 14 post did not include Denver, which opened to invited riders on the same day as San Diego and Tampa. It also left out Las Vegas, where public rides began on September 14. In September, Waymo said it would add riders steadily in both cities as it works toward opening to everyone. Neither post gave a date.

What comes next for Waymo

Waymo is growing on several fronts at once:

• Rides: In February, co-CEO Tekedra Mawakana said Waymo was on track to serve over one million rides a week by the end of 2026. In September, TechCrunch put the average at 500,000 paid rides a week.
• Fleet: Waymo had 1,102 self-driving vehicles registered in Texas as of September 24, TechCrunch reported. About a third were Ojai minivans. The Ojai is built by Zeekr, a brand of China's Geely, and carries Waymo's sixth-generation driving system.
• Money: Waymo closed a $5 billion term loan on October 8, its first debt financing. It said the money will help expand its service in the United States and abroad.
• More cities: Waymo's city page lists 17 places as "up next." They include New York, Washington, Chicago, London and Tokyo.

Some details are still missing. The October 14 post did not say how many cars serve each city or what a typical trip costs. It also did not say whether or when the three service areas will grow.

The robotaxi cities tracker logs each change in who can ride, city by city. A separate explainer compares Waymo's service with Tesla's and Zoox's.