Archive · 25 Dec 2025
Waymo Leads Tesla in Driverless Ride Operations
Imagine two companies racing to make cars that drive themselves.
One is Tesla, which has a very high value and promises to have many robotaxis soon.
The other is Waymo, which is part of Google.
Waymo is already giving many rides with its driverless cars in several cities.
Tesla has started a small service with cars that still have people inside to help, but Waymo's cars drive all by themselves.
Waymo has more cars, gives more rides, and has approval to operate in more places.
Experts think Waymo is doing better right now, even though Tesla's stock is very high because of its promises.
It's like Waymo is already running the race while Tesla is still getting ready to start.
Waymo has 200 driverless vehicles in Austin, while Tesla has 30 with human monitors.
Waymo completed 14 million paid rides in 2025 across 6 cities, with plans to expand to 20 more by 2026.
Tesla is testing in only two cities with human monitors and hasn't scaled beyond that.
Waymo has logged 100 million fully autonomous operational miles, while Tesla's 8.5 million miles are supervised.
Waymo uses multiple sensors and has regulatory approval in multiple cities, while Tesla's vision-only system faces regulatory hurdles.
- Who
- Waymo and Tesla
- What
- Comparison of driverless ride operations
- When
- 2025
- Where
- Austin, Phoenix, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Atlanta, and more
- Why
- To determine the leader in the robotaxi race
- Tesla's Austin robotaxi service start date
- June 2025
- Waymo's Austin robotaxi service start date
- March 2025
- Tesla's robotaxi vehicles in Austin
- 30
- Waymo's robotaxi vehicles in Austin
- 200
- Waymo's paid rides in 2025
- 14 million
- Waymo's operational cities
- 6
- Waymo's total vehicles
- 2,500
- Waymo's autonomous operational miles
- 100 million
- Tesla's supervised miles
- 8.5 million