For years, self-driving taxis were a story about Phoenix and San Francisco. That is over. On September 1, Waymo opened paid driverless rides to the public in Denver, San Diego and Tampa, and says it now runs fully autonomous service in 14 US cities. If your business sits in one of those metros, some of your customers are already arriving in a car with nobody in the front seat.
What happened
Waymo's own announcement says it is letting riders in Denver, San Diego and Tampa in gradually, after tens of thousands of people in each city signed up, and that the launch brings its total to 14 cities. Waymo's announcement. TechCrunch reported the same day that the fleet is now more than 4,000 vehicles, that Waymo plans launches in London and Munich, and that Nevada regulators approved a permit for up to 1,000 vehicles in Clark County. TechCrunch on the September launches.
A September 24 TechCrunch analysis of fleet data put Waymo at about 500,000 paid rides a week, with roughly 80% of its vehicles in California and Texas. Part of the growth comes from a new vehicle, a minivan Waymo calls the Ojai, which TechCrunch says now makes up about a third of the Texas fleet. TechCrunch on Waymo's fleet data.
It has not been smooth. In May, TechCrunch reported that Waymo paused freeway rides in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Phoenix and Miami to improve how its cars handle construction zones, while surface-street service continued. TechCrunch on the freeway pause.
Why it matters for your business
Robotaxis are a consumer product, but they touch businesses in quiet ways.
Customers get there differently. A late-night ride with no driver to chat with or tip changes how people choose where to eat, drink and shop. Venues that are easy for a robotaxi to reach, with a clean place to pull over, have a small edge. Places on streets the service avoids, or outside its map, have a small handicap.
Pickup and drop-off become a design question. Driverless cars are cautious. They need a legal, clear spot to stop. A cluttered curb or a delivery van that lives in your loading zone makes the experience worse for customers who arrive this way.
Staff travel and errands. For firms in covered cities, robotaxis become one more option for client visits, airport runs and late shifts. Some employees will love the privacy. Others will not get in one. Both reactions are reasonable.
Delivery is next in line. The same technology is being tested for moving goods. Owners who rely on couriers should watch which local services start using driverless vehicles, and what that does to price and reliability.
The skeptic's view is fair. A few hundred thousand rides a week is still small against all the trips taken in these cities, the service map in each city is limited, and incidents like the freeway pause show the tech still has hard edges. Rideshare with human drivers will be the default for a long while.
What we'd do
- Check the map. If you are in one of the 14 cities, see whether your address sits inside the service area. Mention it on your site and in confirmation emails if it does.
- Fix the curb. Make sure there is a legal, visible place for any car to stop near your door. That helps robotaxis, rideshare and delivery alike.
- Update the travel policy. Decide whether staff may expense driverless rides, and make it optional. Nobody should be pushed into a vehicle they are not comfortable with.
- Ask your couriers. If you rely on local delivery, ask providers what their plans are for autonomous vehicles and how they would handle insurance and damaged goods.
- Do not plan around dates. Expansion announcements tend to be followed by slow, invite-only rollouts. Plan around what is running in your city today.
Our take: robotaxis crossed from experiment to ordinary service in 2026, at least in a growing list of cities. They will not reshape most small businesses this year, but they reward the owners who pay attention to the small, practical things, like a clear curb and a line in the confirmation email, before competitors do.
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