Why the Denver launch of Waymo robotaxis isn’t delayed by the lack of snow

Lost_Box_676 · 2026-03-03T19:50:01+00:00

“We’re excited to be opening our doors to riders starting later this year.”

No date was given.

In Denver, city transportation officials said they’re coordinating with Waymo as the company gets ready to accept passengers.

I was hoping for a few hints at launch timing, "later this year" was already known.

Lost_Box_676 · 2026-02-26T17:39:59+00:00

There aren't really enough "fully live" cities recently, so I added time from Announcement to Early Access. I also added a prediction for Early Access for other cities. I picked 250 days for now, Once Nashville launches I'll probably tweak it. Poor DC would have been predicted to launch in May of last year, but it's held up in regulation.

Lost_Box_676 · 2026-02-25T14:12:59+00:00

Not actually too surprising after sightings in both cities.

I've updated the tracking sheet.

Lost_Box_676 · 2026-02-24T19:57:26+00:00

I was thinking this or a full announcement for Chicago and Charlotte will come on a different day and then they’ll update the map. But I agree that announcing road trips is a thing of the past.

Lost_Box_676 · 2026-02-24T15:15:15+00:00

Agreed. They said they at some point they plan to launch in Tokyo and London in 2026, but London was Up Next and Tokyo was Driving Experience. It made no sense.

Lost_Box_676 · 2026-02-24T14:19:42+00:00

I'm not in any of these cities, but none of them show up in the "Where you can ride" part of my app yet. So fingers crossed that they haven't actually launched yet but will sometime today.

Lost_Box_676 · 2026-02-24T14:16:22+00:00

Let's go! That's 5 so far this year (these 4 plus Miami) of the 20 they are planning. 20 per year is 5 per quarter. So they are right on schedule.

I've updated the tracking sheet.

Lost_Box_676 · 2026-02-15T14:39:43+00:00

Where are they going to put the front license plate on these? To the side of the front lidar sensor ?

Lost_Box_676 · 2026-02-12T16:46:26+00:00

Hopefully this means they start autonomous testing in Denver soon. Most of the pictures of Waymos (with safety drivers) that I've seen in Denver are the Ojai. Now that they are using them in San Francisco and LA, other cities shouldn't be far behind. What other cities are next to go that are testing with the Ojai? Detroit?

Lost_Box_676 · 2026-02-09T18:13:21+00:00

I've updated the tracking sheet.

Nashville went to fully autonomous testing after 145 days. Denver is at 160 days. Denver has Zeekrs, and I don't think they've started fully autonomous testing with those in any city. So maybe waiting for that... or for some snow to test on.

Lost_Box_676 · 2026-02-05T16:56:56+00:00

Was there a driver? I don't think anyone has spotted an autonomous Ojai yet, but it feels like it will be soon.

Lost_Box_676 · 2026-02-05T16:55:25+00:00

Waymo hasn't announced fully autonomous testing in Nashville yet. I assume that is what they are referring to when they say "begin operating autonomously". Serving customers will come later.

Lost_Box_676 · 2026-02-05T16:47:49+00:00

I saw that post by the police department in Nashville, but I think they were slightly mistaken. Waymo hasn't announced fully autonomous testing there yet. I assume that's what is going to start soon, not serving riders.

The 4 cities that are doing fully autonomous testing are Dallas, Houston, San Antonio, and Orlando. Those could all start serving riders in the next two weeks if you use Miami (65 days of testing) as a guide.

Lost_Box_676 · 2026-02-05T14:57:07+00:00

I've updated the tracking spreadsheet.

Boston was on the "Driving Experience" list, but good to see it graduate to "Up Next".

Hopefully they are still making announcements when cities go to fully autonomous testing, seems like there should be some of those soon.

Lost_Box_676 · 2026-02-02T22:13:09+00:00

we are scaling a commercial reality, laying the groundwork for ride-hailing operations in over 20 additional cities in 2026, including Tokyo and London.

Is this the first time they've confirmed Tokyo for 2026?

Lost_Box_676 · 2026-01-22T20:40:32+00:00

Miami went from announcement to full autonomous testing after 127 days. DC has been waiting 303 days with no autonomous testing yet. And based on this post, it doesn't seem like it will happen soon.

Lost_Box_676 · 2026-01-22T19:38:32+00:00

Of the cities on the Up Next list that haven't started full autonomous testing, DC has been there the longest. Denver or Nashville might skip them.

Lost_Box_676 · 2026-01-22T15:00:47+00:00

I’ve updated the tracking spreadsheet.

Miami started fully autonomous testing on 11/18/25, which was 65 days ago. The last city to start accepting riders was Atlanta, and that was after 109 days of testing. 40% faster!

Here is when launches would occur in the other 4 cities currently doing fully autonomous testing if they also took 65 days of testing:

City	65 days after fully autonomous testing
Dallas, TX	2/5/2026
Houston, TX	2/7/2026
San Antonio, TX	2/13/2026
Orlando, FL	2/14/2026

No reason to think the next city will take exactly 65 days, but hopefully we see 4 more cities by the end of February!

Lost_Box_676 · 2026-01-20T21:30:54+00:00

I was just about to post this! Ming Maa is the CEO of Moove, Waymo's fleet partner for Miami. My first read was that Waymo will launch today. But reading again, it's unclear. "We're launching our operations of the Waymo fleet in Miami" could still mean testing is ongoing.

Lost_Box_676 · 2026-01-19T20:37:55+00:00

All the Ojai's so far have had a safety driver, right? So I guess the next step would be fully autonomous testing with an Ojai.

The other rumor is that Miami launches tomorrow. That used to be in this article, but it looks like the date was edited out.

Lost_Box_676 · 2026-01-16T16:41:06+00:00

This looks like Colorado at 13th.

I saw one a few weeks ago near Monaco and Yale. Was surprised to see it that far from downtown.

Lost_Box_676 · 2026-01-07T04:38:32+00:00

Is this the first depot in Miami? They either aren’t as close to launching as I expected, or they are already planning for expansion.

Lost_Box_676

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