Waymo Accelerates Multi-City Rollout and Targets 1M Weekly Rides

This Week in the Autonomy Economy, Waymo accelerated their multi-city expansion, NVIDIA reported that physical AI now accounts for $6 billion in annual revenue, and Wayve raised $1.2 billion at an $8.6 billion valuation.

One could say that the autonomy markets are heating up, and that would be an understatement. However, these markets have been active for some time, as the industry has been achieving technical breakthroughs for months. We have now reached a point where autonomous driving has been solved.

Autonomous driving is no longer simply a technology problem; it is now a business problem. Companies must begin to shift their focus from making the best product to building the world’s best company.

With the significant amount of capital flowing over the past several weeks, companies now have the balance sheets to hire the individuals necessary to turn technical innovations into world-class businesses.

For the rest of the year, we will be watching the market to see who takes the next step in their autonomous journey, as the autonomy economy continues to emerge.

WHAT’S MOVING THE MARKETS | AUTONOMOUS VEHICLES

Waymo Accelerates Multi-City Rollout and Targets 1M Weekly Rides

Waymo expanded service to early riders in Dallas, Houston, San Antonio, and Orlando simultaneously this week, bringing the total number of operational cities to 10. With international markets London and Tokyo and perhaps Sydney now on the horizon, Waymo is well positioned to achieve its goal of surpassing one million paid rides per week by the end of 2026.

Currently, Waymo is providing over 400,000 paid rides per week across its commercial markets with a fleet of roughly 2,500 vehicles. Reaching the one million weekly ride milestone will require a 2.5x increase in volume in under 10 months, an aggressive target that underscores the current pace of scaling for the company.

Waymo is not just scaling in one region, as they are opening multiple markets within the same state. This week, Orlando joined Miami as the second commercial Florida market for Waymo, with a Tampa expansion on the horizon to bring the total to three Florida cities.

In Orlando, Waymo is currently operating in a 60-square-mile service area with one notable carve-out at Walt Disney World. While the service is not yet available for trips originating or ending within Walt Disney World it is fully operational for early riders at Universal Orlando Resort, Epic Universe, and SeaWorld Orlando.

While there is no confirmed timeline for a Disney World rollout, both the resort and the Orlando International Airport remain important expansion areas for Waymo according to Attractions Magazine.

Entering Walt Disney World requires a significant investment that might just start with Waymo joining the Disney Corporate Alliance program. This would involve negotiating a deal that allows Waymo to co-exist with Chevrolet, which is the long-standing official vehicle partner for Disney.

On March 18th, The Walt Disney Company will hold its annual shareholders meeting, marking the official transition of Josh D'Amaro to the role of CEO. Given the deep background of Mr. D'Amaro in the Parks division and the aggressive focus of Disney on physical AI, this meeting may provide clues regarding future transportation and mobility partnerships.

Beyond the four new commercial markets announced this week, Waymo has begun laying the groundwork to launch commercial service in Chicago and Charlotte. North Carolina Governor Josh Stein welcomed the arrival of the company, stating that the expansion of Waymo could increase accessibility, modernize transportation, and create safer roads.

The regulatory environment in North Carolina is favorable because the state passed a law in 2017 fully allowing autonomous vehicles on public roads. Conversely, Chicago presents a challenge as there is currently no regulatory framework authorizing autonomous vehicle operations in the city or the state of Illinois. This is compounded by a hostile political environment toward autonomy and automation.

Even if Chicago is a hostile political environment, Waymo has shown it is not afraid to push for change. In Washington D.C., Waymo has increased lobbying efforts to legalize autonomous vehicles in the District.

It is abundantly clear that Waymo is playing to win and will operate the service as Waymo rather than making it exclusively available on Uber. The four new city launches included no new Uber partnerships, as Waymo remains exclusively available on Uber only in Austin and Atlanta.

While Waymo had a big week, Uber tried to counter the narrative by unveiling Uber Autonomous Solutions, a comprehensive suite of services designed to help robotaxi partners scale on the Uber platform. By the end of the year, Uber has a goal to deploy robotaxis in 15 cities, while Waymo has plans for one million paid rides per week.

The divergence in the partnership between Uber and Waymo is playing out across press releases, blog posts, X feeds, and podcasts. We are not the only ones paying attention, as Uber’s stock is languishing in the $70s due to an autonomous vehicle overhang.

At some point, clarity will emerge on the current status of the relationship, but until then, we will continue to analyze it, and our opinion remains steadfast in the simple fact that Waymo does not need Uber.

Our Take: At some point, the market is going to wake up and realize just how far Waymo is ahead of the competition and properly begin to price the earnings potential of the company into the stock of Alphabet.

Companies Mentioned: $GOOGL ( ▲ 1.43% )  

Waymo is currently ranked #1 with a bullish outlook on the AUTONOMY LEADERBOARD in the autonomous vehicle category.

PIQUING OUR INTEREST

Physical AI Contributed Over $6bn to NVIDIA Earnings While $6 billion is a significant milestone today, NVIDIA is only getting started as the company expects robotaxis to scale from thousands of vehicles in 2025 to millions over the next decade, creating a market poised to generate hundreds of billions of dollars in revenue.

Waymo Begins Highway Testing in Miami Waymo has begun highway testing in Miami. Is a connection to Hard Rock Stadium in the works?

Uber Unveils Uber Autonomous Solutions Uber has unveiled Uber Autonomous Solutions, a new global suite of services and tools designed to help autonomous vehicle partners commercialize and scale on the Uber platform.

Helm.ai Launches Vision-Only Urban Autonomy Helm.ai has expanded their Helm.ai Driver platform to handle complex urban environments, offering a vision-only, mapless software stack that scales from L2+ to L4.

Mercedes and Momenta Partner on ADAS Beginning this year, nine Mercedes-Benz models will feature an advanced ADAS system jointly developed with Chinese autonomous driving company Momenta.

BMW Abandons L3 for L2 in 7 Series Refresh BMW is removing their SAE Level 3 eyes-off system from the upcoming 7 Series facelift, opting instead for a more affordable Level 2 ADAS system.

BMW Expands Humanoid Robot Testing to German Assembly Lines Following a humanoid pilot in the United States with Figure AI, BMW is launching another humanoid pilot at their Leipzig plant in Germany, where the company will integrate Hexagon’s AEON humanoid robots into vehicle assembly and battery production.

Coco Unveils Coco 2 Delivery Robot Coco Robotics has launched their next-generation Coco 2 robot, which moves beyond remote human piloting to operate fully autonomously on streets and bike lanes at speeds up to 13 miles per hour.

Bot Auto Sets Spring Date for Commercial Driver-Out Operations Bot Auto is partnering with Ryan Transportation to launch fully autonomous trucking operations with no safety-driver or observer this spring on the overnight Houston to Dallas-Fort Worth corridor.

Torc Expands Testing to Michigan Public Roads Torc has expanded autonomous truck testing to public roads in the greater Ann Arbor, Michigan area, as the company prepares to launch driver-out commercial service in 2027.

Einride Secures $113 Million PIPE for SPAC Merger Einride has raised $113 million in PIPE financing at a $1.35 billion valuation, down from their target valuation of $1.8 billion as the company prepares to merge with SPAC, Legato Merger Corp. III.

Abu Dhabi Mobility Launches MENA Region’s First Autonomous Freight Pilot Abu Dhabi has initiated the first pilot operation of autonomous trucks in the MENA region at the KEZAD industrial zone to establish a regulatory framework for self-driving freight and to enhance the efficiency of the emirate's supply chain.

Tesla FSD Supervised Trials Begin in Abu Dhabi Abu Dhabi’s Integrated Transport Centre has launched the emirate’s first supervised road trials of FSD Supervised to evaluate its performance and safety readiness within a structured regulatory framework.

Singapore’s ComfortDelGro Considers London Expansion Following record-breaking 2025 revenue of $4 billion, Singaporean transit company ComfortDelGro announced it is exploring the launch of robotaxi pilot projects in London to leverage its recent acquisition of Addison Lee and its growing autonomous vehicle partnerships.

Baidu's Apollo Completed 3.4 Million Trips in Q4 2025, Announced South Korea Expansion Baidu’s Apollo Go completed 3.4 million fully autonomous trips in Q4 2025, with weekly rides reaching 300,000 for the first time. On the heels of this growth, the company announced an expansion into South Korea, marking its first Asian market outside of Mainland China and Hong Kong.

China’s New Data Without Borders? China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology has drafted new mandatory safety standards for SAE Level 3 and Level 4 vehicles. A core requirement is the installation of an Autonomous Driving Data Recording System (DSSAD), also known as a black box. The big question now is; will these strict data mandates also apply to Chinese robotaxi exports?

📰 Follow @RoadToAutonomy on X for our latest thoughts and insights on the autonomy economy.

SOCIAL BUZZ | LICENSING

Wayve Raises $1.2bn at a $8.6bn Valuation

While the headline reads $1.5 billion, the actual figure at this time is $1.2 billion. As Wayve must meet undisclosed milestones from Uber to unlock an additional $300 million in capital, which would bring the round to the $1.5 billion total. No matter how you slice it, this round is a major success for Wayve and further validates their approach to autonomous driving.

Our take: With Stellantis, Uber, and NVIDIA investing in this round, is this a sign that Wayve could be the autonomous driving supplier for their joint robotaxi collaboration with Foxconn?

Wayve is currently ranked #1 with a bullish outlook on the AUTONOMY LEADERBOARD in the licensing category.

THE ROAD TO AUTONOMY PODCAST

The Age of Physical AI: Inside Oshkosh’s Blueprint for an Autonomous Future

(February 24, 2026) Jay Iyengar, EVP, Chief Technology and Strategic Sourcing Officer, Oshkosh joined Grayson Brulte on The Road to Autonomy podcast to discuss Oshkosh’s approach to autonomy and the development of physical AI across their diverse industrial technology portfolio.

Watch on YouTube | Spotify | X

AUTONOMY MARKETS PODCAST

Uber Sells the Dream, Waymo Logs the Autonomous Miles

(February 28, 2026) This week on Autonomy Markets, Grayson Brulte and Walter Piecyk discuss Uber’s new Autonomous Vehicle Solutions initiative, Waymo's growing markets, and the growth of Physical AI powered by NVIDIA.

Watch on YouTube | Spotify | X