Waymo, Zoox and Tesla drive 2025 robotaxi boom

Robotaxis felt like science fiction just a decade ago, but this year, autonomous vehicles became a commonplace option for paying passengers across big cities in the U.S. and parts of Asia.

Alphabet-owned Waymo kept expanding and dominates the robotaxi market in the U.S., though rivals Tesla and Amazon-owned Zoox also launched the first versions of their services in 2025. Meanwhile, Baidu-owned Apollo Go dominated in China.

Some parents are now sending teens to schools and activities in Waymos, and women often praise the privacy of these AVs versus rides with strangers who drive for ride-hailing and traditional taxi services.

Waymo, in particular, has been so successful in its commercial expansion that Tesla CEO Elon Musk acknowledged his rival’s achievements after previously criticizing the Google sister company. At Tesla’s annual meeting on Nov. 6, Musk thanked Waymo for “paving the path here” when it comes to working out the regulatory approvals that allow robotaxi services to do business across much of the U.S.

But driverless transportation has a long way to go before it becomes more mainstream.

A survey by the American Automobile Association in early 2025 showed that 66% of drivers in the U.S. felt fearful and 25% felt uncertain about autonomous vehicles, reflecting the same consumer skepticism that AAA tracked with the survey in 2024.

There have been rampant complaints about noise, congestion and the sometimes erratic driving behavior of robotaxis, along with economic concerns about the impact of AVs on travel and transportation workers. However, known harmful collisions caused by AVs have been relatively few so far, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, or NHTSA.

Robotaxi fares are currently higher than alternatives today, according to Obi, which tracks ride-hail pricing data and compared Waymo to human-driven Uber and Lyft rides.

Both safety records and costs per ride could change as AV fleets grow from hundreds to thousands of vehicles.

With 2026 just around the corner, here’s how the robotaxi market stands today.

Furthest along in the robotaxi race is Waymo, which now serves rides to the public in five markets, up from three at the end of 2024. Looking ahead, the company is focused on “scaling up pretty aggressively,” Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai said.

“Because this involves the physical world, the scale up will take a bit of time, but I think in the ’27-’28 time frame, I think that Waymo will be meaningful in our financials,” Pichai told employees at an all-hands meeting in November, according to audio obtained by CNBC. “I’m pretty excited about what’s ahead there.”

Waymo’s robotaxi service currently operates in the Austin, San Francisco Bay Area, Phoenix, Atlanta and Los Angeles markets. Earlier this month, CNBC reported that Waymo crossed an estimated 450,000 weekly…