Waymo’s vehicles are now fully driverless in Nashville 🚗🤖🎸

Waymo starts fully driverless testing in Nashville. The company is validating its robotaxi fleet before launching paid rides to the public later this year.

#driverless

Waymo has moved one step closer to offering robotaxi rides to the general public 👥 in Nashville, Tennessee. The company is currently validating its technology ⚙️ within the city to ensure the fleet can operate as fully autonomous rides before launching a paid service 💰. Waymo originally announced plans to bring its robotaxis to Nashville in September 2025, with the intention of opening up rides to the public sometime this year 📅. While the company has been testing its technology in the area since that announcement, it has yet to confirm exactly when it will start accepting bookings ⏳.

The company conducts extensive testing 🧪 in every new market before deploying its robotaxi service. The process begins with safety drivers mapping the area 🗺️, allowing Waymo to update its software 💻 with insights on local driving rules and conditions 🚦. Despite this rigorous testing, Waymo has had to issue software recalls several times after vehicles malfunctioned when facing real-world hazards ⚠️. In the past, its vehicles were observed hitting gates, chains, telephone poles, and stationary vehicles 💥. Most recently, the company issued a recall because its robotaxis failed to stop for school buses 🚌🛑.

At the moment, Waymo vehicles are open to the public in Los Angeles 🌴, San Francisco 🌉, Miami 🏖️, and Phoenix ☀️, as well as in Atlanta and Austin through a partnership with Uber 🤝. The company is active in many other locations—including New York 🗽, New Orleans 🎷, Seattle ☕, and even Tokyo, Japan 🗼🇯🇵—though it is not yet serving riders there. Nashville is now included on the list of new locations where Waymo is conducting or planning driverless trials 🏁, alongside Boston, Dallas, Denver, Detroit, Houston, Las Vegas 🎰, Orlando, Sacramento, San Antonio, San Diego, Washington, and London, UK 🇬🇧.