Waymo's 4,000-vehicle fleet: 80% concentrated in two states
Original: Waymo is scaling fast. Here’s what the fleet data shows.
Why This Matters
Waymo's fleet composition reveals which markets it's actually betting on — and at what pace it can realistically scale.
Waymo now operates in 15 U.S. cities and logs 500,000 paid rides weekly, up from 3 cities in September 2024. But roughly 80% of its ~4,000 robotaxis are in California and Texas, with the Texas fleet surging 49% in three weeks driven by new Chinese-built Ojai minivans.
Waymo's commercial rollout looks broad on paper — 15 cities, half a million weekly rides, geographic spread across multiple states. Look at where the cars actually are, though, and a different picture emerges. About 3,200 of its roughly 4,000 robotaxis operate in California or Texas; the remaining ~800 are scattered across Arizona, Florida, and elsewhere.
Texas is the current growth story. State vehicle registration data tracked by the Texas Autonomous Vehicle Fleet Tracker shows Waymo's in-state fleet hit 1,102 vehicles as of September 24, up 49% in just three weeks. The surge is almost entirely attributable to the Ojai, a modified Zeekr RT minivan equipped with Waymo's sixth-generation self-driving system. Ojai units now account for roughly one-third of Waymo's Texas fleet.
Waymo entered Texas in March 2025 via an Uber partnership in Austin, then expanded to Dallas, Houston, and San Antonio. The fleet grew slowly through summer — from ~600 vehicles in June to just over 700 by late August — before September's sharp acceleration.
The Ojai is positioned as Waymo's mass-scale vehicle: ruggedized interior for heavy commercial use, upgraded rider interface, and Google Gemini as an in-car assistant. That it's Chinese-built by Zeekr is a financial complication; tariffs are already pushing up costs, and the company has acknowledged the pressure. Waymo spun out of Google and remains majority-owned by Alphabet.