Waymo opens public robotaxi rides in Las Vegas

Alphabet-owned Waymo said it is welcoming its first public riders for fully autonomous trips in Las Vegas, its first market in Nevada. Early service uses dozens of Ojai minivans across a Strip-area zone; access starts invite-only and will widen across Clark County.

Same-day robotaxi expansion into a high-traffic tourist city, while the industry argues about slowing frontier models. The company itself published where you can ride and how access starts — invite-only today, not open to everyone.

Waymo, the self-driving unit owned by Alphabet — Google’s parent company — published “Vegas, Deal Us In! We’re welcoming riders today” on its company blog on 14 Sep 2026. It said it is welcoming its first public riders in Las Vegas with fully autonomous trips. A robotaxi is a self-driving taxi: you hail it in an app, and there is no human driver. That company post is the filing event. These are company claims. This desk did not ride the vans.

More than 100,000 people expressed interest in riding after months of studying Vegas roads, the company said. Named destinations include Allegiant Stadium and The Venetian. File the interest count and the two stops as Waymo’s.

Las Vegas will join Denver and San Diego as one of the first cities with a majority Ojai fleet, the company said. Ojai is Waymo’s electric minivan, running the sixth-generation Waymo Driver — the company’s name for the sensors and software that drive the van. TechCrunch, citing a spokesperson the same day, said the launch starts with “dozens” of those Ojai vans. Reuters’ same-day wire said “a few dozen vehicles,” with plans to scale. File the majority-Ojai and sixth-generation lines as the company’s. File “dozens” as TechCrunch and Reuters.

Riders can hail from Boulder Junction up the Strip to Sahara Avenue, and from the edge of Spring Valley to Winchester, the company said — a nearly 24-mile service area. Jackie Hyun, Waymo’s head of marketing, said the Ojai cabin is meant to get riders there “safe and comfortable, throughout our nearly 24-mile service area.” File the zone and the 24-mile figure as Waymo’s.

Access is not open to everyone today. The company said it will steadily give access to more riders in Clark County — the Las Vegas metro — as it works toward opening the service to everyone. TechCrunch reported that for now people have to request an invite and hope for an access code. Do not upgrade this to an open-to-all launch.

TechCrunch’s Kirsten Korosec, writing the same morning, said Las Vegas is Waymo’s 15th U.S. market, that the Nevada Transportation Authority approved commercial robotaxi service in Clark County, and that Zoox is already operating a commercial robotaxi service in Las Vegas. File those three lines as TechCrunch’s. This desk is not inventing competitor fleet sizes.

Las Vegas Mayor Shelley Berkley, quoted on the company blog, called the public rollout of Waymo’s “all-electric autonomous ride-hailing” a way to help people travel between cultural districts and neighborhood centers. File the quote as hers, via Waymo. This is not a city ordinance this desk can name.

The company says the Waymo Driver is involved in 94% fewer serious-injury-or-worse crashes than human drivers over the same distance. File 94% as a company safety figure. This desk did not audit the crash study.

CONFIRMED here: Waymo’s 14 Sep 2026 blog — PRIMARY company source — plus Reuters’ same-day Abhirup Roy / Prathik Jayaprakash wire and TechCrunch’s same-day Korosec wrap. NOT claimed: airport rides live today, that the service is open to everyone, a stock tip, competitor fleet sizes, or that this desk timed a ride. Distinct from the already-filed ponyai-gen4-robotruck-europe and universal-robots-gen7-physical-ai.