Waymo hits 10M paid robotaxi rides, doubling in 5 months

Waymo, the autonomous ride-hailing arm of Alphabet, has now completed over 10 million paid rides, according to co-CEO Tekedra Mawakana, who shared the milestone during the Google I/O developer conference this week. The figure marks a major acceleration for the company, doubling its trip count in just five months.

“These are all paid trips, and they represent people who are really integrating Waymo Driver into their everyday lives,” Mawakana said.

A Rapidly Scaling Operation

Waymo is currently delivering more than 250,000 paid robotaxi rides every week, a testament to the growing adoption of autonomous vehicles in cities such as Austin, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and the Phoenix metro area.

Just this week, the company announced regulatory approval to expand service throughout more of the San Francisco Bay Area, including San Jose, further widening its operational footprint in a state that has become a testing ground for self-driving technologies.

Profitability Still on the Horizon

Despite the growth, Waymo is still operating at a loss. The company is part of Alphabet’s “Other Bets” division, which includes experimental and future-focused ventures. The unit posted $450 million in revenue for Q1 2025, down 9% from a year prior, and a widened operating loss of $1.23 billion, up from $1.02 billion.

Mawakana acknowledged the lack of profitability but emphasized that the company is building toward a sustainable business model. “We’re proving out that it can be a profitable business,” she said. “There’s a path to profitability.”

Competition Heating Up

Waymo's momentum comes just as Tesla prepares to enter the robotaxi market, with plans to launch its autonomous ride-hailing service in Austin next month, starting with about 10 vehicles and scaling quickly if initial trials are successful.

Tesla’s approach is notably different: it relies primarily on camera-based systems and AI-powered computer vision, whereas Waymo incorporates a mix of lidar, radar, and other sophisticated sensors for navigation. Musk has touted Tesla’s model as more scalable, while Waymo continues to emphasize its safety-first strategy.

“There’s probably a lot of ways it can be done, but we’re the only ones that have done it,” Mawakana said. “We’ve been doing it 24 hours a day for almost five years. And so to us, it’s really important to focus on safety — not focus on safety and then cost; not cost and then safety.”

What’s Next?

With approval to expand its service area and a steady increase in paid trips, Waymo is positioning itself as a front-runner in the emerging robotaxi space. However, competition from Tesla and others, combined with high operational costs and the ongoing challenge of achieving profitability, mean that the road ahead will be closely watched by both the tech and transportation industries.

Still, hitting 10 million paid rides represents more than just a metric — it's a signal that autonomous vehicles may be nearing a turning point in mainstream acceptance.