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1Scan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minute2Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errors3Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitchesYes, the January 2025 report was genuine—but “testing robotaxis” did not mean Waymo launched public, driverless ride-hailing in 10 new markets. Waymo said it planned to take vehicles to 10 or more new cities during 2025, beginning with Las Vegas and San Diego.
The initial program was primarily a road trip for mapping, data collection and system evaluation. Waymo reportedly planned to send fewer than 10 vehicles to each city, with trained operators manually driving them. That made the announcement a testing and expansion plan, not a promise of 10 commercial robotaxi launches.
What Waymo announced in January 2025
On January 29, 2025, Waymo confirmed plans to visit 10 or more new cities during the year as part of a large-scale road-trip testing program. The first two publicly disclosed destinations were Las Vegas, Nevada, and San Diego, California.
The original reporting described a small deployment in each city: fewer than 10 vehicles, manually driven by trained operators. Waymo wanted to expose its autonomous-driving system—known as the Waymo Driver—to unfamiliar roads and local driving conditions. The company did not commit to offering public driverless rides in every city it visited.
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TechCrunch’s report and Engadget’s coverage both described the distinction between the 10-plus-city road trip and a commercial launch.
What “testing” meant
In this context, testing could include several different activities:
- Manual data collection: trained operators drove the vehicles through local streets.
- Mapping and road familiarization: Waymo collected information about lanes, intersections, curbs, traffic signals and road geometry.
- Driving-behavior evaluation: the company studied local patterns involving cars, pedestrians, cyclists and freeway traffic.
- System generalization: engineers evaluated how well the Waymo Driver adapted to a new environment without extensive city-specific retraining or manual tuning.
- Preparation for later autonomous testing: depending on local permits and Waymo’s readiness, a city could potentially progress to more advanced testing later.
That work matters because an autonomous vehicle must handle more than a static map. Construction zones, temporary lane markings, unusual intersections, curbside pickup, event traffic, weather and regional driving habits can all change how a familiar driving system performs.
Waymo product manager Nick Rose said the company was interested in cities that would challenge the system and look substantially different from places where it had already driven. The objective was to determine whether the Waymo Driver could adapt to new U.S. environments “out of the box,” rather than immediately put every vehicle into passenger service. Investing.com summarized that rationale from the original reporting.
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Las Vegas and San Diego were the first confirmed cities
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Las Vegas provided a distinctive test environment, with heavy tourism, substantial taxi and ride-hailing activity, event-driven traffic and road patterns unlike Waymo’s established markets. Its selection did not by itself mean Waymo was preparing an immediate public launch there.
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San Diego
San Diego offered a mix of dense urban driving, pedestrians and cyclists, freeways and high-speed routes. It also provided a useful comparison with Waymo’s Southern California experience without simply duplicating Los Angeles.
Local reporting identified early testing areas including Bankers Hill, Mission Hills, downtown, Sherman Heights, Interstate 5 and State Route 163. Axios San Diego reported those local details.
These were the only two cities identified in the initial announcement. Waymo promoted a “10+ cities” road trip, but the available announcement did not provide a definitive official list of all 10 or more destinations.
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| Status | What it means |
|---|---|
| Manual road testing | A trained human drives while Waymo collects data and evaluates the environment. |
| Autonomous testing with a specialist | The automated system drives, but a trained safety specialist remains in the vehicle. |
| Driverless testing | The vehicle operates without a human behind the wheel, but rides may be limited to employees, invited guests or evaluation users. |
| Commercial robotaxi service | Members of the public can request rides in a defined service area, typically through an app or partner platform. |
The January 2025 announcement primarily described the first category. Calling the vehicles “robotaxis” referred to the technology platform and vehicle type; it did not necessarily mean they were carrying paying passengers autonomously.
A city can also move through these stages at different speeds. Mapping may happen before autonomous testing is permitted. Autonomous testing may require an onboard specialist. Even successful driverless testing does not automatically provide the regulatory approvals, fleet capacity, service operations and customer support needed for a commercial launch.
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Why the distinction matters
The phrase “10 new cities” can easily be mistaken for “10 new commercial markets.” Those are different numbers.
At the time of the January announcement, Waymo’s commercial robotaxi service was operating in Phoenix, San Francisco and Los Angeles. Austin, Atlanta and Miami were also part of the company’s expansion plans or preparations, but those should not be confused with the separate 10-city testing program. TechCrunch reported the commercial footprint and planned expansions.
Likewise, a test fleet of fewer than 10 vehicles per city was a distributed data-gathering effort—not a mass-market rollout. And “fully autonomous” describes a vehicle’s operating mode under specified conditions; it does not mean the vehicle can operate on every road, in every weather condition or across an entire metropolitan area.
Other cities associated with Waymo testing in 2025
Later reporting associated Waymo with testing, mapping or launch preparation in locations including Dallas, Houston, San Antonio, Orlando, New Orleans, Nashville, Boston, New York City, Philadelphia, Denver and Seattle.
Those locations should not be presented as the verified remaining members of the original 10-city road trip. The evidence describes different activities at different times, including manual road trips, mapping, permits, autonomous testing and preparation for future commercial operations.
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New York City is a clear example. In August 2025, the city approved Waymo to test up to eight vehicles in parts of Manhattan and downtown Brooklyn. The approval required a trained specialist behind the wheel and covered testing rather than for-hire robotaxi service. New York City’s announcement explains the permit conditions.
Waymo also pursued testing or expansion activity in Philadelphia and New York, while later reports described starts in Denver and Seattle. These developments show a widening testing footprint, but they do not establish that each city was part of the initial 10-plus-city count.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.What happened after the announcement?
| Date | Development |
|---|---|
| January 29, 2025 | Waymo confirms a plan to visit 10 or more new cities, beginning with Las Vegas and San Diego. Initial testing involves small, manually driven fleets. |
| 2025 | Waymo expands mapping and testing activity into additional cities, with the exact activity varying by location and local authorization. |
| August 2025 | New York City approves limited testing of up to eight vehicles, with a trained specialist behind the wheel. |
| November 2025 | Waymo announces fully autonomous operations in Miami, Dallas, Houston, San Antonio and Orlando. |
| February 2026 | The Associated Press reports that Waymo is dispatching robotaxis in 10 major U.S. markets. |
Waymo’s November announcement named Miami, Dallas, Houston, San Antonio and Orlando as additional cities receiving fully autonomous driving operations. The company had also described broader expansion in an August 2025 update.
By February 2026, the Associated Press reported a 10-market U.S. commercial footprint. That later milestone should not be read backward as proof that all 10 destinations in the January plan immediately became public robotaxi markets. Some testing locations may take longer, remain limited to preparation or never become commercial service areas.
Why winter and geography were part of the strategy
Waymo has used testing in places such as Michigan and upstate New York to study harsher winter conditions. This illustrates why a city can be valuable as a test location even when a near-term commercial launch is not announced.
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Autonomous-driving systems must account for differences in visibility, road maintenance, lane markings, traffic behavior and infrastructure. A road trip through multiple regions lets Waymo evaluate the system across a wider range of conditions than it would encounter in one established operating area.
Can people hail a Waymo in Las Vegas or San Diego?
The January 2025 testing announcement alone did not establish public, driverless ride availability in either city. A vehicle being present for manual testing is not the same as a commercial service geofence being open to customers.
Availability can also differ by platform. A service offered through a partner such as Uber is not necessarily identical to availability through the Waymo One app. Readers should check Waymo’s current service-area information for the specific city and date rather than infer availability from a testing report.
The accurate way to describe the story
The most precise summary is:
Waymo said in January 2025 that it planned to send its autonomous-driving vehicles to 10 or more new cities for testing, starting with Las Vegas and San Diego. The initial vehicles were manually driven by trained operators, and the plan did not guarantee public driverless robotaxi service in those cities.
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That wording preserves what was significant about the announcement—the rapid expansion of Waymo’s data and validation pipeline—without turning a testing program into a launch announcement.
Waymo’s later expansion shows that testing can precede commercial service, but it also shows why the stages must remain separate. Technical validation, permits, operational preparation and public availability are related milestones, not interchangeable terms.
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