Waymo begins serving paying customers in Las Vegas

What happens in Vegas now stays in a self-driving minivan. Waymo officially flipped the switch on paid robotaxi rides in Las Vegas on September 14, marking the company’s 15th US metro area and its first commercial operation anywhere in Nevada.

The launch kicked off with a waitlist north of 100,000 people, who will be invited to hail rides on a rolling basis. Waymo is starting with dozens of its sixth-generation Ojai minivans covering roughly 24 square miles, a zone that includes stretches of the Las Vegas Strip and surrounding neighborhoods.

The fleet and the footprint

The initial coverage area is modest by Vegas standards, but the trajectory is not. Nevada regulators have approved Waymo to deploy up to 1,000 vehicles over the next year, and the company plans to eventually add freeway driving and airport access to the service map.

The Ojai minivans are all-electric and represent Waymo’s latest hardware generation, designed with more interior space than earlier models.

Waymo has also struck deals with local venues to establish dedicated pickup zones.

The service builds on a preparatory phase that began in July 2026, when Waymo started running empty vehicles through Las Vegas streets to map routes and calibrate its systems.

A crowded strip

Waymo is not the only autonomous vehicle company eyeing Las Vegas dollar bills. Amazon’s Zoox beat it to the punch, launching its own paid robotaxi service in the city on August 10, roughly five weeks earlier.

That makes Las Vegas one of the first US cities where two separate robotaxi operators are competing for fares simultaneously. Tesla and Uber are also competing in the autonomous ride-hailing space.

The company has leaned heavily on its safety data to differentiate itself. Waymo claims its autonomous system is involved in 94% fewer serious injury or fatal crashes compared to human-driven vehicles.

Scaling ambitions

Las Vegas fits neatly into Waymo’s broader goal of reaching 1 million paid rides per week across its US footprint.

To handle fleet logistics, Waymo is working with Moove, a fleet management partner that helps coordinate vehicle maintenance, charging, and deployment.

The Nevada Transportation Authority’s approval for commercial operations in Clark County was the final regulatory gate. Nevada has historically been among the more permissive states for autonomous vehicle testing, having passed its first AV legislation back in 2011.

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