01
Anyone with the Waymo app can now hail a fully driverless ride in San Antonio, San Diego and Tampa, with San Antonio International Airport included. Waymo says these three cities have had "hundreds of thousands of riders" since they opened earlier this year. A day earlier, Waymo began driverless rides to and from Nashville International Airport, rolling out to riders gradually.
Why it matters: Dropping invite lists turns three new markets from controlled pilots into open service, the same step that came right before Waymo's fastest growth in Phoenix and San Francisco.
Waymo · 2026-10-14
02
NHTSA's latest Standing General Order data shows 36 unique Tesla Robotaxi incident reports, up from 22 in July. Two new August crashes, a roughly 0.4 mph contact with an SUV in Dallas and a roughly 1 mph strike on a dumpster in Austin, happened while remote operators were driving, which brings remote-operator crashes to five. Nobody was hurt and neither car had passengers.
Why it matters: Tesla doesn't disclose its mileage or how often remote operators take over, so the growing crash count can't be turned into a rate, and that leaves outsiders unable to judge its safety record.
Electrek · 2026-10-15
03
Tesla's Austin Robotaxi service now runs from 6 a.m. to midnight, its second extension in about two weeks. Tesla says FSD v15 will unlock round-the-clock rides. Texas registrations of Tesla's driverless fleet reached 803 (454 Model Y plus 349 Cybercab) on the Oct 17 pull of the state data, up from 589 on Oct 8. Community tracker RobotaxiTracker counts 277 vehicles actually in service in Austin, 107 of them Cybercabs.
Why it matters: Being registered doesn't mean being deployed. The gap between Texas registrations, Tesla's "300+ Cybercabs" claim and community counts is the clearest measure of how quickly Tesla is really scaling.
Not a Tesla App; TxDMV registrations via robotaxireport.com daily sync · 2026-10-17
04
Ontario approved Waymo for its automated vehicle pilot program. Waymo will first map Toronto manually, then test with safety operators, then remove them before inviting the public. Toronto-based Element Fleet Management will run fleet operations, and first passengers are targeted for 2028.
Why it matters: Toronto is Waymo's northernmost and probably snowiest city yet, a real test of whether its system can handle a full winter.
TechCrunch · 2026-10-16
05
Councilmember Charles Allen plans a committee vote on his robotaxi bill by Thanksgiving, with a full DC Council vote in December. The bill would cap each operator at 200 vehicles at first, delay commercial rollout until 2028, and charge a per-mile fee that funds displaced rideshare drivers and Metro. Incoming mayor Janeese Lewis George and labor unions oppose it.
Why it matters: If it passes, DC would set a template that pays drivers and caps fleets, and other cities still weighing driverless service could copy it.
Axios · 2026-10-16
06
Pony.ai, Uber and Verne began testing Pony.ai's seventh-generation robotaxis in Manchester, their second UK city after London. No date for public passenger service has been given. The wider Pony.ai–Uber plan targets more than 2,000 robotaxis across Zagreb and four other European cities.
Why it matters: With Waymo and Wayve also aiming at London, the UK is becoming the first contested robotaxi market in Europe.
EqualOcean · 2026-10-14
07
Apollo Go will run a 14-day public trial in Tung Chung from Oct 21 to Nov 3, expecting more than 1,000 residents to ride. Each trip is a roughly 5.1 km loop of about 15 minutes, and tickets are physical passes handed out by district offices.
Why it matters: Hong Kong is Baidu's foothold outside mainland China, and a public trial is the next step toward paid service there.
DotDotNews · 2026-10-15