Waymo to begin manual drives in Minneapolis, Tampa and New Orleans

Alphabet’s Waymo on Thursday announced that it will soon begin manually driving its robotaxi vehicles in Minneapolis, Tampa and New Orleans.

The Google sister company will start operating test drives in that trio of towns with human drivers in hopes of launching its driverless robotaxi service there as soon as next year, the company said.

If Waymo does begin operating in those markets next year, that would bring the robotaxi company’s list of 2026 planned expansions to 15 cities.

On Tuesday, Waymo said it plans to start operating its vehicles with no human driver in Dallas, Houston, San Antonio, Miami and Orlando in the coming weeks, with plans to open service to the public there next year. The company has also previously announced plans to expand to Detroit, Denver, Las Vegas, Nashville, San Diego, Washington, D.C., and London in 2026.

A spokesperson said Waymo will wait until its technology is validated in Minneapolis, Tampa and New Orleans before committing to 2026 service launches.

“2026 is very much on the table, but we’ll be led by our safety framework,” Waymo spokesperson Ethan Teicher said in an email. 

With more than 250,000 weekly paid trips, Waymo’s robotaxi service currently operates in Austin, the San Francisco Bay Area, Phoenix, Atlanta and Los Angeles markets. The company has provided more than 10 million paid rides since launching in 2020.

Last week, Waymo began offering freeway routes in the San Francisco, Phoenix and Los Angeles markets. The company said it will gradually extend freeway trips to more riders and locations over time.

The addition of freeway rides marked an important milestone for Waymo and the robotaxi industry due to the challenges conditions of operating at such high speeds. Next year, Waymo will set its sights on achieving another key milestone: operating in markets known for harsh winter conditions.

Along with Denver and Detroit, the addition of Minneapolis means Waymo believes its nearly ready to begin serving riders in regions where its driverless vehicles would need to be ready to brave snow and frigid forecasts.

“We currently operate at freezing temperatures, including with frost and hail, and we’re validating our system to navigate harsher weather conditions,” Teicher said. “We’ll have small fleets to start that we expand over time.”

This week, Amazon-owned Zoox began allowing select San Francisco users to hail its driverless vehicles. San Francisco is the second market where Zoox now offers a free service, after its launch in Las Vegas in September. The company plans to remove its rider waitlist for San Francisco entirely in 2026.

WATCH: Waymo launches paid robotaxi rides on freeways