Waymo grew its lead in the robotaxi market in 2025, and is now operating, planning to launch a service or testing its vehicles in 26 markets in the U.S. and abroad. Amazon's Zoox began offering free driverless rides to the public around the Las Vegas Strip and certain San Francisco neighborhoods.

There are many clues that Tesla is using lots of remote monitoring and supervision, and possibly even remote driving, for their early tests. Optimus still does that.

Morgan Stanley expects Tesla (TSLA) to meaningfully increase its robotaxi fleet size in 2026. While Tesla (TSLA) has largely taken a cautious approach to scaling robotaxi operations in Austin and San Francisco,

Why it matters: The airport's operational budget relies heavily on parking revenue, which is expected to bring in nearly $22 million — about one-third of the airport's total revenue — in the upcoming fiscal year starting next June. A significant move toward autonomous ride services could threaten that funding source.

Competition in robotaxi technology is intensifying, with Mercedes, Verne, Waymo, and others advancing.

CEO RJ Scaringe laid out his plan for how Rivian's vehicles will increasingly drive themselves, in a bid to match or exceed the capabilities of rival automakers and AV companies.

An initial investigation was opened into Waymo in October by the NHTSA's Office of Defects Investigation (ODI) after it obtained video of a Waymo robotaxi driving around a school bus in Atlanta as the vehicle was unloading schoolchildren with its stop sign extended and flashing lights on. Now the agency is going even further in its inquiry.

Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi says robotaxis are a "trillion-dollar-plus" business and he expects Asia to drive the wave of autonomous expansion.