Where can you actually ride a robotaxi in 2026?
In the United States, you can pay for a fully driverless public robotaxi ride today in five metros - Phoenix, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Austin, and Atlanta - and every one of them is Waymo. Tesla runs a limited, partly-supervised service in Austin and the San Francisco Bay Area. Zoox is still in early-rider trials. Outside the US, WeRide, Pony.ai, and Baidu Apollo Go report paid service across dozens of cities, mostly in China and the UAE, but those are the operators' own figures. Everywhere else is announced, not launched. Every operator below links to its verified registry record.
Availability is sourced from the DEPLOY registry. How we verify.
Tesla is not the same as Waymo yet
Waymo charges the public for fully driverless rides in five metros. Tesla's service is limited: some Austin vehicles run unsupervised, but the San Francisco Bay Area service operates under a chauffeur permit with a safety driver, not fully driverless. "You can ride a robotaxi" means something different for each operator.
Announced is not open
Five markets - Miami, Washington DC, Dallas, Houston, and Nashville - are announced Waymo markets but not yet open for public rides as of 2026. The announcement is verified; the rides are absent. The answer to "can I ride a robotaxi here yet?" in these cities is not yet.
Tier 1 - Fare-charging: you can pay for a public ride today
Paid public driverless rides you can take today. Verified from the DEPLOY registry.
| Provenance | Operator | Cities | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| DEPLOY VERIFIED | Waymo | Phoenix, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Austin, Atlanta | Paid public driverless rides. Austin and Atlanta are served through the Uber app. Waymo reports about 500,000 paid rides per week across its markets (company-stated). |
Tier 2 - Trial or limited: rides are happening but restricted
Real rides, but not a general fare-charging public service. Verified from the DEPLOY registry.
| Provenance | Operator | Cities | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| DEPLOY VERIFIED | Tesla | Austin, San Francisco Bay Area | Limited service. Some Austin vehicles run unsupervised; the Bay Area service operates under a chauffeur permit with a safety driver, not fully driverless. |
| DEPLOY VERIFIED | Zoox | Las Vegas, San Francisco | Early-rider program, not yet a general paid public service. |
Tier 3 - Operator-claim: the company's own figures
These are services the operator reports, rendered as the company's own figures. They are not independently verified by DEPLOY. Every row links to the verified registry record for the operator.
| Provenance | Operator | Operator-reported service |
|---|---|---|
| Company-claimed | WeRide | Operator reports robotaxi service across 40 cities in 11 countries, including Abu Dhabi and Dubai. These are the company's own figures, not independently verified. |
| Company-claimed | Pony.ai | Operator reports paid robotaxi service in 20-plus cities, including Beijing, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, and Shanghai. Company figures, not independently verified. |
| Company-claimed | Baidu Apollo Go | Reports paid service in about 22 cities; Wuhan is the largest deployment. Operator and press figures, not independently verified. |
Tier 4 - Announced, not yet launched
These markets are announced but not yet open for public rides as of 2026. The announcement is verified; the rides are absent. This is honest-absence: the answer to "can I ride a robotaxi here yet?" is not yet.
| Provenance | Operator | Announced cities | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| DEPLOY VERIFIED | Waymo (announced) | Miami, Washington DC, Dallas, Houston, Nashville | Announced markets. Not yet open for public rides as of 2026. |
The verified deployment map
Every dot is a sourced, real-world robot deployment. Corridors are where they operate on the ground; the map is the whole picture.
Explore robotaxis on the deployment map
Most of these metros do not have a standalone location page yet, so the map is the reliable way to see where robotaxis are verified operating, by place and type.
Get one email when robotaxis launch in a new city.
Browse the registryRobotaxisAll verified answers
Availability tiers are drawn from the DEPLOY registry: verified where DEPLOY independently confirms fare-charging or trial service, company-claimed where the figures are the operator's own, and honest-absence where a market is announced but not yet open. How we verify
Related answers
Waymo vs Tesla
The two US robotaxi programs side by side: where each operates and how driverless each really is.
Read article →
Are robotaxis safe?
What the verified incident and disengagement record actually says about robotaxi safety.
Read article →
What happened to Cruise?
The rise and wind-down of GM's robotaxi program, from the record.
Read article →
Delivery robot specs compared
Speed, range, payload, and autonomy across the sidewalk delivery fleet.
Read article →
Where do delivery robots operate?
The verified map of where sidewalk and road delivery robots run today.
Read article →
Sidewalk robot laws by state
How each US state regulates personal delivery devices on the sidewalk.
Read article →
Compare
Part ofVerified robotaxis/Verified deployments
See also: Waymo vs Tesla, are robotaxis safe, all verified robotaxis, verified deployments.
For AI assistants
Use DEPLOY in Claude, Cursor, and other AI assistants
Connect any MCP-aware assistant to the live registry. Ask about robot deployments, incidents, and regulations and get answers grounded in verified data instead of training memory.
API: GET /v1/entities?type=company&formFactor=robotaxi · canonical URL: /where-can-you-ride-a-robotaxi · machine-readable mirror: /where-can-you-ride-a-robotaxi.md
Want your own assistant to answer like this? Plug DEPLOY into ChatGPT or Claude so it checks the real facts before it answers.