Waymo Expands Robotaxi Access to Teens as Ridership Surges

Waymo, the autonomous-driving unit of Alphabet, is expanding its robotaxi service to teenagers as the company rapidly scales its commercial network across the U.S. Waymo on Tuesday began allowing users ages 13 to 17 to request fully autonomous rides in Nashville, making it the second U.S. market with teen accounts after Phoenix, TechCrunch reported. Teen profiles must be linked to a parent or guardian, and riders can travel throughout Waymo’s 50-square-mile Nashville service area. The company told TechCrunch that Nashville is the "first of many" markets expected to launch teen accounts in the coming months, provided local operations are mature and regulations allow it. Teen riders can also bring up to three additional passengers between 13 and 17, although Waymo has not said how it will verify those passengers’ ages. Read Also: DataRobot's Private Stock Soars 953% in a Year: Still 83% Below its AI Boom Valuation Waymo’s Robotaxi Network Expands The move comes as Waymo pushes to increase the scale and utilization of its robotaxi network. Paid trips have grown from roughly 50,000 per week in May 2024 to more than 500,000 per week earlier this year, according to TechCrunch, as the company added markets across the country. Waymo has accelerated that expansion in recent months. The company began welcoming riders in Denver, San Diego and Tampa on Sept. 1, bringing its commercial operations to 14 U.S. cities at the time, before beginning its Las Vegas rollout on Sept. 14. Its fleet has grown to more than 4,000 vehicles. Nashville itself is also becoming a broader distribution channel for Waymo. The company launched paid rides there in April, while its robotaxis became available through Lyft’s app earlier this month, giving riders another way to access the service. Teen Expansion Comes Amid Safety Scrutiny But the expansion comes as Waymo faces continued regulatory scrutiny over how its autonomous vehicles respond to children and pedestrians. NHTSA is investigating a Jan. 23 incident in Santa Monica in which a Waymo robotaxi struck a 9-year-old girl near a school. The child suffered minor injuries, while regulators have questioned Waymo about its school-zone operations and autonomous-driving software. Waymo has submitted responses, but the investigation remains ongoing and has not established that a vehicle defect caused the crash. The regulatory scrutiny comes as Waymo expands into a demographic that puts children directly into its autonomous transportation network. For Waymo, teen accounts represent another potential source of demand as the company moves beyond early-adopter riders and into more routine transportation. The company is also preparing for international expansion, with plans to begin serving Tokyo in 2027 and Singapore as part of its broader global rollout. The combination of rapid ridership growth, new markets and younger passengers underscores the next phase of Waymo’s strategy: making autonomous rides part of everyday transportation while regulators continue evaluating how the technology performs in some of its most challenging real-world scenarios. Photo: Shutterstock Read Also: Anthropic Launches Claude Opus 5.5, Cuts Costs 40% and Scraps 5-Hour Usage Caps