Waymo is entering 3 more cities: Minneapolis, New Orleans and Tampa

Waymo has three new cities in its sights as it continues to expand across the United States: Minneapolis, New Orleans and Tampa.

The company said Thursday it will begin manually driving its vehicles in those cities “in the coming days,” before testing and validating the driverless technology before eventually launching a commercial robotaxi service in each.

These cities join a growing list of locations where Waymo has launched or plans to launch its robotaxis. The Alphabet-owned company already offers rides on surface streets and highways in Los Angeles, San Francisco and Phoenix, and is also live in Austin and Atlanta.

In 2026, Waymo plans to expand to Dallas, Denver, Detroit, Houston, Las Vegas, Miami, Nashville, Orlando, San Antonio, San Diego, Seattle and Washington.

But the new cities announced Thursday could present some unique challenges for Waymo. Minneapolis has perhaps the harshest winters of Waymo’s chosen cities to date. Snow could challenge Waymo’s perception stack, and its lack of traction will give the automated driving system some extra work. New Orleans, meanwhile, has many narrow, one-way streets that are heavily used by pedestrians—especially in the French Quarter.

As Waymo has expanded, it has been working with partners in multiple cities to help operate its fleets. Its vehicles are on the Uber app in Austin and Atlanta, African mobility and fintech company Moove has taken over operations in Phoenix (and will do the same in Miami), and Avis Budget Group will manage the fleet in Dallas. It’s not immediately clear whether Waymo will build on similar partnerships in the new cities.

Waymo has so far outpaced other players when it comes to expanding into new cities. Zoox, which is owned by Amazon, is offering free rides in its customized robotaxi in Las Vegas and allowing its program members to take trips to San Francisco while it awaits the necessary National Highway Traffic Safety Administration exemption to begin full commercial operations.

Tesla, meanwhile, is trying to expand its emerging robotaxi service, which still features safety screens in the driver’s seat. This week, the company received approval to begin offering rides in Arizona, in addition to Austin and San Francisco.