Waymo is starting the new year with a new city: Miami. Starting today, anyone on the company’s waiting list, which includes about 10,000 people, can hail one of its robo-taxis for rides within a 60-square-mile service area that includes popular neighborhoods like the Design District, Wynwood, Brickell and Coral Gables — but not popular tourist destinations like South Beach.
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The vehicles will initially avoid highways and travel on local roads, with plans to expand to higher-speed roads later in the year.
The process will be similar to other cities, where Waymo first opens the service to those who have signed up for a waitlist and expressed interest in trying out its robo-taxis before they become available to the general public. The map will also expand over time to include more neighborhoods and major locations, such as Miami International Airport.
Waymo has been testing its autonomous vehicles in the Florida city since 2019 and recently began laying the groundwork for a robo-taxi service, which it officially announced at the end of 2024.
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Waymo's fleet of driverless vehicles will be managed by a company called Moove, which provides fleet management services as well as a range of financial products for mobility companies. The African company, which has several offices in Nigeria, is backed by Uber and was recently valued at $750 million.
Waymo's robo-taxi business is growing slowly, even as the company becomes more confident about naming the markets it wants to target in the future. Waymo currently operates in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Austin, Atlanta and Phoenix. It hopes to expand to more than 20 cities in the coming years, including San Diego, Philadelphia, Minneapolis, Tampa, Houston, Orlando, Washington, D.C., New York, Denver, New Orleans, Tokyo, London and several others.
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In its Miami announcement, Waymo cited its safety record — a tenfold reduction in serious accidents compared to human drivers in the cities where it operates — and its growing demand. By the end of 2025, Waymo said it was making about 450,000 paid driverless trips each week.
